Secrets to the Story
by dani-curtis-16
Summary: Pony has been moody since dally and johnny's deaths, so in order to try to help him cope, the gang sit together and read the theme that pony wrote that would become "The Outsiders"! Suck at summaries, especially my 1st one, so please R R! Stay Gold!
1. Prologue

HEY! So, this is my 1st fic pleeeease go gently on me! Here's a little prologue, and we will see where this takes us! I DON'T OWN THE OUTSIDERS ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE AMAZING S.E. HINTON!

**Pony's POV**

As I walk home with Two-Bit, I notice he is more anxious to get to my house than usual. He practically drags me along, effectively annoying the hell outta me.

"Where's the fire, Two-Bit", I finally ask.

"Oh, you'll see", he replies, making me wonder if I oughta go home or not.

The weirdness continues as we enter my house. Darry and Soda are actually already there at 4, when they usually work til at least 6, sitting on the couch, with Steve sprawled out on the floor like a beached whale. (Read that line in a book, and Steve reminds me of it. A lot.)

"Uhhhh, why are you all here so early….?"

Darry clears his throat and answers, " Well, we are going to do something different tonight, Ponyboy."

"And that something IS?" I replied, losing my temper a bit.

They all look at the floor a long minute before Soda responds, "We're gonna read your book, Pone."

TADA! PLEASE REVIEW, FAVORITE, AND COMMENT! AND A CHOCOLATE CAKE TO ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHAT BOOK PONY GOT THAT LINE OUT OF! STAY GOLD!


	2. Chapter 1, part 1

**Thanks soo much for the reviews! I'm going to attempt to update every other day! The more reviews I get the more motivated I'll be lol! **

**On with the story!**

**Chapter 1- Part 1**

**Soda's POV**

"Excuse me, but we're doing WHAT?!" Pony shouted. I had to laugh at the look on my baby brother's face. As if we would NOT read his story!

"We happen to be extremely curious about your side of this story, Ponyboy." Steve said with a sneer. I frowned, I sometimes believe my best bud hates my little bro….

Darry, who had come up with this plan, said, "Alright, enough. Pony, you might as well get comfortable, we are gonna read this together, whether you like it or not". Dar's tone forbade argument, so Pony mumbled to himself about how ridiculous this was as he plopped down next to Two-Bit on the floor.

"Who wants to start?' Darry asked. When nobody answered, he said, "Fine, you chickens, I'll start." He glanced up at Pony to see his reaction. My baby brother was looking at his sneakers, probably wishing he didn't have to be here, but he needed help, so we were gonna help him. Even if he didn't like it.

"Chapter 1 …."

**WHEN I STEPPED OUT into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home. I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman- he looks tough and I don't- but I guess my own looks aren't so bad. **

Darry and I frowned. Since when did Pony feel that way?

"Pony, you look both tough and tuff." I said with a smile.

"Sure" Pony answered, but he obviously thought I was wrong.

**I have light-brown, almost-red hair and greenish-gray eyes. I wish they were more gray, because I hate most guys that have green eyes, but I have to be content with what I have. My hair is longer than a lot of boys wear theirs, squared off in back and long at the front and sides, but I am a greaser and most of my neighborhood rarely bothers to get a haircut. Besides, I look better with long hair.**

"Damn straight. This new cut, while cleaner, makes you look like, as the French would say, 'a bloody pansy'" Two-Bit said as he ran his fingers through the grease bath that was his hair.

"'Bloody' is a British word, nimrod" Steve said rolling his eyes as he grabbed his beer can.

"May I?" Dar asked, and they shut up.

**I had a long walk home and no company, but I usually lone it anyway, for no reason except that I like to watch movies undisturbed so I can get into them and live them with the actors. When I see a movie with someone it's kind of uncomfortable, like having someone read your book over your shoulder. I'm different that way. I mean, my second -oldest brother, Soda, who is sixteen-going-on-seventeen, never cracks a book at all, and my oldest brother, Darrel, who we call Darry, works too long and hard to be interested in a story or drawing a picture, so I'm not like them. And nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do. For a while there, I thought I was the only person in the world that did. So I loned it.**

Darry sighed. "You better know better than to lone it from now on, little buddy", he stated firmly. Pony nodded, "I know, Dar."

**Soda tries to understand, at least, which is more than Darry does. But then, Soda is different from anybody; he understands everything, almost. Like he's never hollering at me all the time the way Darry is, or treating me as if I was six instead of fourteen. I love Soda more than I've ever loved anyone, even Mom and Dad. He's always happy-go-lucky and grinning, while Darry's hard and firm and rarely grins at all. But then, Darry's gone through a lot in his twenty years, grown up too fast.**

"Hey, thanks, Pony, I love you too." I was glad he felt the same way I did. I don't know what I'd do without my Pony, cuz trust me, I've come close enough to finding out. I love Darry, but Pony is my best friend and the person I care about most in the world.

Darry, on the other hand, said "Pone, you really feel this way?" "Not anymore", Pony said bluntly, "I understand now, Dar." The two smiled at each other, they really did dig each other now.

"Well. Let's continue." Dar said sweetly.

**Sorry, I know its short, school and family in the way, but I promise a bigger update this weekend. Reviews, Please!**


	3. Chapter 1, Part 2

**Here's Chapter 1 Part 2. Thanks so much for my reviews! PLEASE don't be afraid to give me any tips or ideas you may have, I'm def open to suggestions!**

**Darry's POV**

**Sodapop'll never grow up at all. I don't know which way's the best. I'll find out one of these days.**

**Anyway, I went on walking home, thinking about the movie, and then suddenly wishing I had some company. Greasers can't walk alone too much or they'll get jumped, or someone will come by and scream "Greaser!" at them, which doesn't make you feel too hot, if you know what I mean. We get jumped by the Socs. I'm not sure how you spell it, but it's the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids. It's like the term "greaser," which is used to class all us boys on the East Side.**

"Greasers=cool, Socies=drools!" Two-Bit shouted.

"Two-Bit Matthews, that is the only equation you've ever done in your life, isn't it?" Steve remarked as he, Soda, and even Pony laughed. I smiled at my brothers, cuz blood or not, that's what all these boys were to me. I continued.

**We're poorer than the Socs and the middle class. I reckon we're wilder, too. Not like the Socs, who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks, and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next. Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. I don't mean I do things like that. Darry would kill me if I got into trouble with the police.**

Got that right, I thought to myself. But it was fine, Pony was a good kid.

**Since Mom and Dad were killed in an auto wreck, the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave. So Soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can, and we're careful not to get caught when we can't. I only mean that most greasers do things like that, just like we wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, or leave our shirttails out and wear leather jackets and tennis shoes or boots. I'm not saying that either Socs or greasers are better; that's just the way things are.**

"It shouldn't be the way things are." Silent agreement around the room.

**I could have waited to go to the movies until Darry or Sodapop got off work. They would have gone with me, or driven me there, or walked along, although Soda just can't sit still long enough to enjoy a movie and they bore Darry to death. Darry thinks his life is enough without inspecting other people's. Or I could have gotten one of the gang to come along, one of the four boys Darry and Soda and I have grown up with and consider family. We're almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well. If I had thought about it, I could have called Darry and he would have come by on his way home and picked me up, or Two-Bit Mathews- one of our gang- would have come to get me in his car if I had asked him, but sometimes I just don't use my head. It drives my brother Darry nuts when I do stuff like that, 'cause I'm supposed to be smart; I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything, but I don't use my head. Besides, I like walking.**

"Pony, next time, PLEASE do me a favor and call me." I moaned. I knew what came next.

**I about decided I didn't like it so much, though, when I spotted that red Corvair trailing me. I was almost two blocks from home then, so I started walking a little faster. I had never been jumped, but I had seen Johnny after four Socs got hold of him, and it wasn't pretty. Johnny was scared of his own shadow after that. Johnny was sixteen then.**

The gang and I got real tense. We all hated reliving this.

**I knew it wasn't any use though- the fast walking, I mean- even before the Corvair pulled up beside me and five Socs got out. I got pretty scared- I'm kind of small for fourteen even though I have a good build, and those guys were bigger than me. I automatically hitched my thumbs in my jeans and slouched, wondering if I could get away if I made a break for it. I remembered Johnny- his face all cut up and bruised, and I remembered how he had cried when we found him, half-conscious, in the comer lot. Johnny had it awful rough at home- it took a lot to make him cry.**

Two-Bit, Soda, Steve, Pony, and I all made a somber face. Johnny….

**I was sweating something fierce, although I was cold. I could feel my palms getting clammy and the perspiration running down my back. I get like that when I'm real scared. I glanced around for a pop bottle or a stick or something- Steve Randle, Soda's best buddy, had once held off four guys with a busted pop bottle- but there was nothing. So I stood there like a bump on a log while they surrounded me. I don't use my head. They walked around slowly, silently, smiling.**

This was killing me. Despite knowing how this played out, the thought of my baby brother surrounded by Socs, scared with no way out…. I shuddered. The rest of the gang was growing tenser.

**"Hey, grease," one said in an over-friendly voice. "We're gonna do you a favor, greaser. We're gonna cut all that long greasy hair off."**

We all started growling. Damn Socs….

**He had on a madras shirt. I can still see it. Blue madras. One of them laughed, then cussed me out in a low voice. I couldn't think of anything to say. There just isn't a whole lot you can say while waiting to get mugged, so I kept my mouth shut.**

**"Need a haircut, greaser?" The medium-sized blond pulled a knife out of his back pocket and flipped the blade open.**

**I finally thought of something to say. "No." I was backing up, away from that knife. Of course I backed right into one of them. They had me down in a second. They had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows, and if you don't think that hurts, you're crazy. I could smell English Leather shaving lotion and stale tobacco, and I wondered foolishly if I would suffocate before they did anything. I was scared so bad I was wishing I would.**

"NEVER THINK LIKE THAT, PONY!" Soda shouted, running up to Pony and hugging him. It was kinda cute.

"Sorry, Soda" Pony mumbled, obviously embarrassed.

**I fought to get loose, and almost did for a second; then they tightened up on me and the one on my chest slugged me a couple of times. So I lay still, swearing at them between gasps. A blade was held against my throat.**

**"How'd you like that haircut to begin just below the chin?"**

Soda whimpered, still hugging Pony tight. "Come on Soda", Pony comforted, "You'll like this next part."

**It occurred to me then that they could kill me. I went wild. I started screaming for Soda, Darry, anyone. Someone put his hand over my mouth, and I bit it as hard as I could, tasting the blood running through my teeth. I heard a muttered curse and got slugged again, and they were stuffing a handkerchief in my mouth. One of them kept saying, "Shut him up, for Pete's sake, shut him up!"**

"I'll like this next part? That was worse!" Soda groaned. Two-Bit and Steve hadn't stopped growling, the thought of Ponyboy like that was almost unbearable.

"Must be the next paragraph" Pony mumbled.

**Then there were shouts and the pounding of feet, and the Socs jumped up and left me lying there, gasping. I lay there and wondered what in the world was happening- people were jumping over me and running by me and I was too dazed to figure it out. **

"The super gang to the rescue!" Two-Bit screamed as he fist-pumped Steve. Pony laughed and Soda relaxed and smiled. I, too, was smiling. OF COURSE we saved Pony, when we had heard his screaming, we all went ballistic and ran to trash the ones hurting our brother.

**Then someone had me under the armpits and was hauling me to my feet. It was Darry."Are you all right, Ponyboy?" He was shaking me and I wished he'd stop. I was dizzy enough anyway. I could tell it was Darry though- partly because of the voice and partly because Darry's always rough with me without meaning to be.**

'Sorry, Pony, tell me next time"

**"I'm okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I'm okay."**

"Oh, right." I forgot about that.

**He stopped instantly. "I'm sorry." He wasn't really. **Yes I was, I thought.

**Darry isn't ever sorry for anything he does. It seems funny to me that he should look just exactly like my father and act exactly the opposite from him. My father was only forty when he died and he looked twenty-five and a lot of people thought Darry and Dad were brothers instead of father and son. But they only looked alike- my father was never rough with anyone without meaning to be.**

I was completely blown back by this. I didn't realize he had felt this way….

**Darry is six-feet-two, and broad-shouldered and muscular. He has dark-brown hair that kicks out in front and a slight cowlick in the back- just like Dad's- but Darry's eyes are his own. He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice. They've got a determined set to them, like the rest of him. He looks older than twenty- tough, cool, and smart. He would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold. He doesn't understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But he uses his head.**

**I sat down again, rubbing my cheek where I'd been slugged the most.**

**Darry jammed his fists in his pockets. "They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?"**

**They did. I was smarting and aching and my chest was sore and I was so nervous my hands were shaking and I wanted to start bawling, but you just don't say that to Darry.**

"What?!" I squeaked incredulously. Total silence.

**"I'm okay."**

**Sodapop came loping back. By then I had figured that all the noise I had heard was the gang coming to rescue me. He dropped down beside me, examining my head.**

**"You got cut up a little, huh, Ponyboy?"**

**I only looked at him blankly. "I did?"**

**He pulled out a handkerchief, wet the end of it with his tongue, and pressed it gently against the side of my head. "You're bleedin' like a stuck pig."**

**"I am?"**

**"Look!" He showed me the handkerchief, reddened as if by magic. "Did they pull a blade on you?"**

**I remembered the voice: "Need a haircut, greaser?" The blade must have slipped while he was trying to shut me up. "Yeah."**

**Soda is handsomer than anyone else I know. Not like Darry- Soda's movie-star kind of handsome, the kind that people stop on the street to watch go by. He's not as tall as Darry, and he's a little slimmer, but he has a finely drawn, sensitive face that somehow manages to be reckless and thoughtful at the same time. He's got dark-gold hair that he combs back- long and silky and straight- and in the summer the sun bleaches it to a shining wheat gold. His eyes are dark brown- lively, dancing, recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next. He has Dad's eyes, but Soda is one of a kind. He can get drunk in a drag race or dancing without ever getting near alcohol. In our neighborhood it's rare to find a kid who doesn't drink once in a while. But Soda never touches a drop- he doesn't need to. He gets drunk on just plain living. And he understands everybody.**

Wow, Pony was real observant. He got Soda down to a T.

**He looked at me more closely. I looked away hurriedly, because, if you want to know the truth, I was starting to bawl. I knew I was as white as I felt and I was shaking like a leaf.**

**Soda just put his hand on my shoulder. "Easy, Ponyboy. They ain't gonna hurt you no more."**

**"I know," I said, but the ground began to blur and I felt hot tears running down my cheeks. I brushed them away impatiently. "I'm just a little spooked, that's all." I drew a quivering breath and quit crying. You just don't cry in front of Darry. Not unless you're hurt like Johnny had been that day we found him in the vacant lot. Compared to Johnny I wasn't hurt at all.**

I sighed. "Pony, you were JUMPED AND CUT. What happened to Johnny may have been horrible, but you were hurting, and you NEVER have to hide that from me. You can always cry in front of me if you need to." I was shaking, and close to tears myself.

Then, suddenly, Pony got up and HUGGED me. "Dar, I SWEAR, I know that now. I'm sorry, but as this goes on, you'll see how that changes." He smiled at me, and I smiled back. Good, I thought.

**Soda rubbed my hair. "You're an okay kid, Pony."**

**I had to grin at him- Soda can make you grin no matter what. I guess it's because he's always grinning so much himself. "You're crazy, Soda, out of your mind."**

**Darry looked as if he'd like to knock our heads together. "You're both nuts." **

"And you always will be", I remarked, earning me two pillows to the face.

**Soda merely cocked one eyebrow, a trick he'd picked up from Two-Bit. "It seems to run in this family."**

**Darry stared at him for a second, then cracked a grin. Sodapop isn't afraid of him like everyone else and enjoys teasing him. I'd just as soon tease a full-grown grizzly; but for some reason, Darry seems to like being teased by Soda.**

"Too bad for you, I aint afraid of you anymore", Pony said cockily. I looked at him a minute… then cracked a grin. I liked his teasing, too.

**I'm gonna try another update later today, or tomorrow, since I have no weekend homework. Reviews will help an update come sooner…. ;)**


	4. Chapter 1, Part 3

**Thanks for the support! I just wanted to comment on one of my reviews. The reason I started this was because I was reading a "The gang reads the outsiders" fic, and then it just disappeared! So I decided to start my own! Tee-hee, ok I hope you enjoy this!**

Chapter 1, Part 3

Two-Bit's POV

**Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and heaved rocks at them. They came running toward us now- four lean, hard guys. They were all as tough as nails and looked it. l had grown up with them, and they accepted me, even though I was younger, because I was Darry and Soda's kid brother and I kept my mouth shut good.**

" You USED to keep your mouth shut good", Steve snapped "Now you talk more than Soda." Soda, Darry, and I glared at him. Man, Steve really needs to stop bugging the kid. Pony was going through a tough spot since our two buddies died, and Steve keeps acting like it was HIS fault.

"Maybe you oughta keep YOUR mouth shut good, Randle" I threw at him, and Pony snickered. Glad I could make the kid laugh, and Steve backed down.

**Steve Randle was seventeen, tall and lean, with thick greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls. He was tacky, smart, and Soda's best buddy since grade school. Steve's specialty was cars. He could lift a hubcap quicker and more quietly than anyone in the neighborhood, but he also knew cars upside-down and backward, and he could drive anything on wheels. He and Soda worked at the same gas station- Steve part time and Soda full time- and their station got more customers than any other in town. Whether that was because Steve was so good with cars or because Soda attracted girls like honey draws flies, I couldn't tell you. I liked Steve only because he was Soda's best friend. He didn't like me- he thought I was a tag-along and a kid; Soda always took me with them when they went places if they weren't taking girls, and that bugged Steve. It wasn't my fault; Soda always asked me; I didn't ask him. Soda doesn't think I'm a kid.**

"No, I don't" Soda smiled affectionately at his brother. "And Steve, if you really are my best friend, you'll lay off my kid brother." "Sorry, Soda" Steve said, trying to keep the peace. "By the way Pony, no one would come to see Soda's mug, so our good business is because of me." That's when Soda threw his bottle at Steve, then wrestled him to the floor. One look from Darry got those two back in their seats, though.

**Two-Bit Mathews was the oldest of the gang and the wisecracker of the bunch. He was about six feet tall, stocky in build, and very proud of his long rusty-colored sideburns. He had gray eyes and a wide grin, and he couldn't stop making funny remarks to save his life. You couldn't shut up that guy; he always had to get his two-bits worth in. Hence his name. Even his teachers forgot his real name was Keith, and we hardly remembered he had one.**

"Clearly, the mention of my 'real name' shows you remember it" I got a pillow to the gut.

**Life was one big joke to Two-Bit. He was famous for shoplifting and his black-handled switchblade (which he couldn't have acquired without his first talent), and he was always smarting off to the cops. He really couldn't help it. Everything he said was so irresistibly funny that he just had to let the police in on it to brighten up their dull lives. (That's the way he explained it to me.) He liked fights, blondes, and for some unfathomable reason, school. He was still a junior at eighteen and a half and he never learned anything. He just went for kicks. I liked him real well because he kept us laughing at ourselves as well as at other things. He reminded me of Will Rogers- maybe it was the grin.**

"Hey! I happen to enjoy my education" "You're educated?" "Get your face over here Ponyboy!"

Darry grabbed me as I lept towards Pony, and I sat down cuz you don't mess with Darry.

**If I had to pick the real character of the gang, it would be Dallas Winston- Dally. **

Pony got up and walked out of the tense room. Soda got up to follow him, but Dar said "Give him a minute" and he relunctantly sat down.

**I used to like to draw his picture when he was in a dangerous mood, for then I could get his personality down in a few lines. He had an elfish face, with high cheekbones and a pointed chin, small, sharp animal teeth, and ears like a lynx. His hair was almost white it was so blond, and he didn't like haircuts, or hair oil either, so it fell over his forehead in wisps and kicked out in the back in tufts and curled behind his ears and along the nape of his neck. His eyes were blue, blazing ice, cold with a hatred of the whole world. Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten. He was tougher than the rest of us- tougher, colder, meaner. The shade of difference that separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dally. He was as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim Shepard's gang.**

**In New York, Dally blew off steam in gang fights, but here, organized gangs are rarities- there are just small bunches of friends who stick together, and the warfare is between the social classes. A rumble, when it's called, is usually born of a grudge fight, and the opponents just happen to bring their friends along. Oh, there are a few named gangs around, like the River Kings and the Tiber Street Tigers, but here in the Southwest there's no gang rivalry. So Dally, even though he could get into a good fight sometimes, had no specific thing to hate. No rival gang. Only Socs. And you can't win against them no matter how hard you try, because they've got all the breaks and even whipping them isn't going to change that fact. Maybe that was why Dallas was so bitter.**

Bitter didn't cut it, I thought, pained by the dead on description of my dead buddy.

**He had quite a reputation. They have a file on him down at the police station. He had been arrested, he got drunk, he rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, stole, rolled drunks, jumped small kids- he did everything. I didn't like him, but he was smart and you had to respect him.**

"See, Steve, he prefers DALLY to you." but no one responded to me.

**Johnny Cade was last and least. If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny. He was the youngest, next to me, smaller than the rest, with a slight build. He had big black eyes in a dark tanned face; his hair was jet-black and heavily greased and combed to the side, but it was so long that it fell in shaggy bangs across his forehead. He had a nervous, suspicious look in his eyes, and that beating he got from the Socs didn't help matters. He was the gang's pet, everyone's kid brother. His father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house. I think he hated that worse than getting whipped. He would have run away a million times if we hadn't been there. If it hadn't been for the gang, Johnny would never have known what love and affection are.**

" I hate how right he is" Steve mumbled. "You aint kiddin" Soda agreed.

**I wiped my eyes hurriedly. "Didya catch 'em?"**

**"Nup. They got away this time, the dirty..." Two-Bit went on cheerfully, calling the Socs every name he could think of or make up.**

"I NEVER make up my insults" and got thrown at with a pillow, a can, and the TV remote.

**"The kid's okay?"**

**"I'm okay." I tried to think of something to say. I'm usually pretty quiet around people, even the gang. I changed the subject. "I didn't know you were out of the cooler yet, Dally."**

**"Good behavior. Got off early." Dallas lit a cigarette and handed it to Johnny. Everyone sat down to have a smoke and relax. A smoke always lessens the tension. I had quit trembling and my color was back. The cigarette was calming me down. Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow. "Nice-lookin' bruise you got there, kid."**

**I touched my cheek gingerly. "Really?"**

**Two-Bit nodded sagely. "Nice cut, too. Makes you look tough."**

**Tough and tuff are two different words. Tough is the same as rough; tuff means cool, sharp- like a tuff-looking Mustang or a tuff record. In our neighborhood both are compliments.**

"And we are all both" Soda said. Steve and I fist pumped him and Darry rolled his eyes.

**Steve flicked his ashes at me. "What were you doin', walkin' by your lonesome?" Leave it to good old Steve to bring up something like that.**

"Steve, you set my little brother on fire with those ashes, and I'll skin you slowly and painfully" "Sorry, Dar" "It's Pony you oughta apologize to"

**"I was comin' home from the movies. I didn't think..."**

**"You don't ever think," Darry broke in, "not at home or anywhere when it counts. You must think at school, with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No sirree, bub. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade."**

"Maybe I'm not the only one who needs to apologize" Darry tensed, looking like he agreed. Soda patted his shoulder to comfort him.

**I just stared at the hole in the toe of my tennis shoe. Me and Darry just didn't dig each other. I never could please him. He would have hollered at me for carrying a blade if I had carried one. If I brought home B's, he wanted A's, and if I got A's, he wanted to make sure they stayed A's. If I was playing football, I should be in studying, and if I was reading, I should be out playing football. He never hollered at Sodapop- not even when Soda dropped out of school or got tickets for speeding. He just hollered at me.**

"That's not true! He just didn't hear me holler at Soda!" "Unfortunately, I did" "Soda.."

**Soda was glaring at him. "Leave my kid brother alone, you hear? It ain't his fault he likes to go to the movies, and it ain't his fault the Socs like to jump us, and if he had been carrying a blade it would have been a good excuse to cut him to ribbons."**

"Team Soda!" I called out. I coulda sworn I heard laughter from down the hall….

**Soda always takes up for me.**

**Darry said impatiently, "When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother, I'll ask you- kid brother." But he laid off me. He always does when Sodapop tells him to. Most of the time.**

"Hey, Pony, you think this is so funny, why not come back out and join us?" And Pony walked back in with a smile on his face. "Alright, Dar." He sat in the empty seat between Soda and Darry.

**"Next time get one of us to go with you, Ponyboy," Two-Bit said. "Any of us will."**

**"Speakin' of movies"- Dally yawned, flipping away his cigarette butt- "I'm walkin' over to the Nightly Double tomorrow night. Anybody want to come and hunt some action?"**

**Steve shook his head. "Me and Soda are pickin' up Evie and Sandy for the game."**

**He didn't need to look at me the way he did right then. I wasn't going to ask if I could come. I'd never tell Soda, because he really likes Steve a lot, but sometimes I can't stand Steve Randle. I mean it. Sometimes I hate him.**

"STEVE!" Soda, Darry, and I shouted. But Steve was lookin at Pony. "Geez, kid, I didn't realize I was THAT bad to ya!" "Well, you are" "Wow. Sorry, kid, you one of the gang, I really don't hate you. I'll try to be better."

That shocked us all, and Pony stammered, "I-i-it's ok, Steve. I don't really hate you either." Soda smiled a mile long as Steve and Pony fist pumped.

**Darry sighed, just like I knew he would. Darry never had time to do anything anymore. "I'm working tomorrow night."**

**Dally looked at the rest of us. "How about y'all? Two-Bit? Johnnycake, you and Pony wanta come?"**

**"Me and Johnny'll come," I said. I knew Johnny wouldn't open his mouth unless he was forced to. "Okay, Darry?"**

**"Yeah, since it ain't a school night." Darry was real good about letting me go places on the weekends. On school nights I could hardly leave the house.**

**"I was plannin' on getting boozed up tomorrow night," Two-Bit said. "If I don't, I'll walk over and find y'all."**

**Steve was looking at Dally's hand. His ring, which he had rolled a drunk senior to get, was back on his finger. "You break up with Sylvia again?"**

**"Yeah, and this time it's for good. That little broad was two-timin' me again while I was in jail."**

**I thought of Sylvia and Evie and Sandy and Two-Bit's many blondes. They were the only kind of girls that would look at us, I thought. Tough, loud girls who wore too much eye makeup and giggled and swore too much. I liked Soda's girl Sandy just fine, though. **

Soda gulped. That two-timing little…

**Her hair was natural blond and her laugh was soft, like her china-blue eyes. She didn't have a real good home or anything and was our kind- greaser- but she was a real nice girl. Still, lots of times I wondered what other girls were like. The girls who were bright-eyed and had their dresses a decent length and acted as if they'd like to spit on us if given a chance. Some were afraid of us, and remembering Dallas Winston, I didn't blame them. But most looked at us like we were dirt- gave us the same kind of look that the Socs did when they came by in their Mustangs and Corvairs and yelled "Grease!" at us. I wondered about them. The girls, I mean... Did they cry when their boys were arrested, like Evie did when Steve got hauled in, or did they run out on them the way Sylvia did Dallas? But maybe their boys didn't get arrested or beaten up or busted up in rodeos.**

"Au contraire, Pony, they do. They just hide it behind all that money."

**I was still thinking about it while I was doing my homework that night. I had to read Great Expectations for English, and that kid Pip, he reminded me of us- the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman or anything, and the way that girl kept looking down on him. That happened to me once. One time in biology I had to dissect a worm, and the razor wouldn't cut, so I used my switchblade. The minute I flicked it out- I forgot what I was doing or I would never have done it- this girl right beside me kind of gasped, and said, "They are right. You are a hood." That didn't make me feel so hot. These were a lot of Socs in that class- I get put into A classes because I'm supposed to be smart- and most of them thought it was pretty funny. I didn't, though. She was a cute girl. She looked real good in yellow.**

"A.) You ARE smart and B.) I'm sorry, Pony, why didn't you tell me about that" Soda looked real concerned. "It's not important" Pony shrugged. "To me, you ARE I can help you if you need girl advice, kiddo." "I know Soda." Awwww, I thought, they are so cute. As if reading my mind, Soda took a pillow that was thrown at me and threw it again. "I know that look on your face, Matthews. Keep your mouth shut."

**We deserve a lot of our trouble, I thought. Dallas deserves everything he gets, and should get worse, if you want the truth. And Two-Bit- he doesn't really want or need half the things he swipes from stores. He just thinks it's fun to swipe everything that isn't nailed down. I can understand why Sodapop and Steve get into drag races and fights so much, though- both of them have too much energy, too much feeling, with no way to blow it off.**

"Thanks for the defense, Pon" Steve and Soda said in unison. "Hey, I need to eat." I smirked. "Try BUYING it once in a while, I dare you." While I fumed, everyone else laughed.

**"Rub harder, Soda," I heard Darry mumbling. "You're gonna put me to sleep."**

"Oooohhhh, So…" I was cut off by Soda choking me. "Soda, please, I don't want you picked up for murder." "Fine, Pone."

**I looked through the door. Sodapop was giving Darry a back-rub. Darry is always pulling muscles; he roofs houses and he's always trying to carry two bundles of roofing up the ladder. I knew Soda would put him to sleep, because Soda can put about anyone out when he sets his head to it. He thought Darry worked too hard anyway. I did, too.**

"Everyone does" Pony said to Darry. "Gotta keep food on the table" "How you gonna manage that with a busted back?" "I'm Superman, I can handle anything" Pony and Soda bothed cocked an eyebrow at him and crossed their arms over their chests. "Darrel…" "Ponyboy and Sodapop…"

**Darry didn't deserve to work like an old man when he was only twenty. He had been a real popular guy in school; he was captain of the football team and he had been voted Boy of the Year. But we just didn't have the money for him to go to college, even with the athletic scholarship he won. And now he didn't have time between jobs to even think about college. So he never went anywhere and never did anything anymore, except work out at gyms and go skiing with some old friends of his sometimes.**

"Heck, Dar, aint your muscles already bigger than my football?" "Shut it, Matthews"

**I rubbed my cheek where it had turned purple. I had looked in the mirror, and it did make me look tough. But Darry had made me put a Band-Aid on the cut.**

**I remembered how awful Johnny had looked when he got beaten up. I had just as much right to use the streets as the Socs did, and Johnny had never hurt them. Why did the Socs hate us so much? We left them alone. I nearly went to sleep over my homework trying to figure it out.**

**Sodapop, who had jumped into bed by this time, yelled sleepily for me to turn off the light and get to bed. When I finished the chapter I was on, I did.**

**Lying beside Soda, staring at the wall, I kept remem bering the faces of the Socs as they surrounded me, that blue madras shirt the blond was wearing, and I could still hear a thick voice: "Need a haircut, greaser?" I shivered.**

**"You cold, Ponyboy?"**

**"A little;" I lied. **

"You ever lie about being scared again…" "Sorry, Soda, but shivering IS technically like being cold."

**Soda threw one arm across my neck. He mumbled something drowsily. "Listen, kiddo, when Darry hollers at you... he don't mean nothin'. He's just got more worries than somebody his age ought to. Don't take him serious... you dig, Pony? Don't let him bug you. He's really proud of you 'cause you're so brainy. It's just because you're the baby- I mean, he loves you a lot. Savvy?"**

"Yea, Pony, you're just the baby" "Shut it, Matthews"

"That's my bro" Soda and Darry laughed.

**"Sure," I said, trying for Soda's sake to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.**

**"Soda?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"How come you dropped out?" I never have gotten over that. I could hardly stand it when he left school.**

**" 'Cause I'm dumb. The only things I was passing anyway were auto mechanics and gym."**

**"You're not dumb."**

"Listen to Pony, he's right. You ain't dumb." Darry

"You're smarter than you give yourself credit for" Steve

"You're alright" Me.

**"Yeah, I am. Shut up and I'll tell you something. Don't tell Darry, though."**

Darry glanced at Soda and he blushed. "You gonna tell me or let me read it?" No response, so…

**"Okay."**

**"I think I'm gonna marry Sandy. After she gets out of school and I get a better job and everything. I might wait till you get out of school, though. So I can still help Darry with the bills and stuff."**

Darry frowned. "You told me that." "AFTER I told Pony." "That's just natural." "What's that's supposed to mean?" "That you tell Pony everything first." "I do…. Ok, I do."

**"Tuff enough. Wait till I get out, though, so you can keep Darry off my back."**

**"Don't be like that, kid. I told you he don't mean half of what he says..."**

**"You in love with Sandy? What's it like?"**

**"Hhhmmm." He sighed happily. "It's real nice."**

**In a moment his breathing was light and regular. I turned my head to look at him and in the moonlight he looked like some Greek god come to earth. I wondered how he could stand being so handsome. Then I sighed. I didn't quite get what he meant about Darry. Darry thought I was just another mouth to feed and somebody to holler at.**

"I do not!"

**Darry love me? I thought of those hard, pale eyes. Soda was wrong for once, I thought. Darry doesn't love anyone or anything, except maybe Soda.**

Darry was shaking like a leaf now. "I love people." Pony looked down, ashamed tears running down his face.

**I didn't hardly think of him as being human. **

"He ain't human, he's Superman." "Shut it, Matthews" "K, Soda"

**I don't care, I lied to myself, I don't care about him either. Soda's enough, and I'd have him until I got out of school. I don't care about Darry. But I was still lying and I knew it. I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.**

"Ok, Darry, WHY did Pony think all this of you?" Steve demanded. "Darry, seriously, you guys are brothers, I thought you were cool." Silence.

"Listen", Pony put in, "This is all stuff from THE PAST. Now I know Darry loves me, and all of us, but back then, he scared me. It was cuz he was just startin out, ya know? So lay off him." Steve and I stepped down, but I had a sinking feeling THIS story was gonna open our eyes to a different side of THE story….

**TEE-HEE! Chapter 1 is done. Please review and tell me how good or bad this is! I won't get better until my flaws are pointed out!**


	5. Chapter 2, Part 1

**Heeeere's Chapter 2, Part 1! Enjoy! **

**Steve's POV**

"So, who wants to read the next chapter?" Darry asked around our little gang.

"I'll do it" I volunteered. I gave an annoyed glnace at everyone staring at me. What, I wasn't allowed to want to read? I was honestly curious about Ponyboy's story, and I wanted to show him to make up for the way I been treatin him, which I now felt real guilty about.

"Sure, go for it buddy", Soda said with a warm smile. What was with the smile?

"Ok, here we go.."

**Chapter 2**

**DALLY WAS WAITING for Johnny and me under the street light at the corner of Pickett and Sutton, and since we got there early, we had time to go over the drugstore in the shopping center and goof around. We bought Cokes and blew the straws at the waitress, and walked around eyeing things that were lying out in the open until the manager got wise to us and suggested we leave. He was too late, though; Dally walked out with two packages of Kools under his jacket.**

"Somehow, that doesn't seem nearly as bad as when YOU pull that stunt, Two-Bit. You'd walk out with half the store if you could." Pon, Darry, and Soda all laughed. Two-Bit didn't.

**Then we went across the street and down Sutton a little way to The Dingo. There are lots of drive-ins in town- the Socs go to The Way Out and to Rusty's, and the greasers go to The Dingo and to Jay's. The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot. We walked around talking to all the greasers and hoods we knew, leaning in car windows or hopping into the back seats, and getting in on who was running away, and who was in jail, and who was going with who, and who could whip who, and who stole what and when and why. We knew about everybody there. There was a pretty good fight while we were there between a big twenty-three-year-old greaser and a Mexican hitchhiker. We left when the switchblades came out, because the cops would be coming soon and nobody in his right mind wants to be around when the fuzz show.**

"Smart boys", Darry approved, causing Ponyboy to grin. I couldn't help but think of Pony's description of Darry in the last chapter. Things were cool now, but were we about to find out how bad it had been before? I pushed the thought out of my head.

**We crossed Sutton and cut around behind Spencer's Special, the discount house, and chased two junior-high kids across a field for a few minutes; by then it was dark enough to sneak in over the back fence of the Nightly Double drive-in movie. It was the biggest in town, and showed two movies every night, and on weekends four- you could say you were going to the Nightly Double and have time to go all over town.**

"I thought I gave you the money for the movie that night Pony", Soda said with a frown. "Give it a minute" Ponyboy replied.

**We all had the money to get in- it only costs a quarter if you're not in a car- but Dally hated to do things the legal way. He liked to show that he didn't care whether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws. **

"Oh" Soda said stunned. "Yep" Ponboy smirked.

**We went to the rows of seats in front of the concession stand to sit down. Nobody else was there except two girls who were sitting down front. Dally eyed them coolly, then walked down the aisle and sat right behind them. I had a sick feeling that Dally was up to his usual tricks, and I was right. He started talking, loud enough for the two girls to hear. He started out bad and got worse. Dallas could talk awful dirty if he wanted to and I guess he wanted to then. I felt my ears get hot. Two-Bit or Steve or even Soda would have gone right along with him, just to see if they could embarrass the girls, but that kind of kicks just doesn't appeal to me. I sat there, struck dumb, and Johnny left hastily to get a Coke.**

"You shoulda followed Johnny, Ponyboy, I don't have to read the next line to know things are about to get UGLY" I warned with a smirk. Silent agreement around the room.

**I wouldn't have felt so embarrassed if they had been greasy girls- I might even have helped old Dallas. But those two girls weren't our kind. They were tuff-looking girls- dressed sharp and really good-looking. They looked about sixteen or seventeen. One had short dark hair, and the other had long red hair. The redhead was getting mad, or scared. She sat up straight and she was chewing hard on her gum. The other one pretended not to hear Dally. Dally was getting impatient. He put his feet up on the back of the redhead's chair, winked at me, and beat his own record for saying something dirty. She turned around and gave him a cool stare.**

"I'm sure Dally's terrified." "Shaking in his leather jacket, Two-Bit." "Was he, Pony?" "Let's see."

**"Take your feet off my chair and shut your trap."**

**Boy, she was good-looking. I'd seen her before; she was a cheerleader at our school. I'd always thought she was stuck-up.**

"Ooooohhhh, gotta crush, Pony?" "Your trap, Two-Bit, zip it."

**Dally merely looked at her and kept his feet where they were. "Who's gonna make me?"**

**The other one fumed around and watched us. "That's the greaser that jockeys for the Slash J sometime," she said, as if we couldn't hear her.**

**I had heard the same tone a million times: "Greaser... greaser... greaser." Oh yeah, I had heard that tone before too many times. What are they doing at a drive-in without a car? I thought, and Dallas said, "I know you two. I've seen you around rodeos."**

**"It's a shame you can't ride bull half as good as you can talk it," the redhead said coolly and turned back around.**

"Watch yourself, girl, your leading him on."

**That didn't bother Dally in the least. "You two barrel race, huh?"**

**"You'd better leave us alone," the redhead said in a bit ing voice, "or I'll call the cops."**

"How terrifying" For once, Two-Bit was right. Dal really wouldn't give that a second thought.

**"Oh, my, my"- Dally looked bored- "you've got me scared to death. You ought to see my record sometime, baby." He grinned slyly. "Guess what I've been in for?"**

**"Please leave us alone," she said. "Why don't you be nice and leave us alone?"**

"He's never nice."

**Dally grinned roguishly. "I'm never nice. Want a Coke?"**

"You're psychic, Steve!" "You're psycho, Two-Bit." "Nice comeback, Pony!" Two-Bit glared as I slapped Pony a high five.

**She was mad by then. "I wouldn't drink it if I was starving in the desert. Get lost, hood!"**

**Dally merely shrugged and strolled off.**

**The girl looked at me. I was half-scared of her. I'm half-scared of all nice girls, especially Socs. "Are you going to start in on us?"**

**I shook my head, wide-eyed. "No."**

**Suddenly she smiled. Gosh, she was pretty. "You don't look the type. What's your name?"**

**I wished she hadn't asked me that. I hate to tell people my name for the first time. "Ponyboy Curtis."**

**Then I waited for the "You're kidding!" or "That's your real name?" or one of the other remarks I usually get. Ponyboy's my real name and personally I like it.**

"Hey, you forgot the neighing and the '_Hay_, nice to meet you!'" "That's just you, Matthews."

**The redhead just smiled. "That's an original and lovely name."**

**"My dad was an original person," I said. "I've got a brother named Sodapop, and it says so on his birth certificate."**

**"My name's Sherri, but I'm called Cherry because of my hair. Cherry Valance."**

**"I know," I said. "You're a cheerleader. We go to the same school."**

**"You don't look old enough to be going to high school," the dark-haired girl said.**

"Technically, you're not" Darry pointed out.

**"I'm not. I got put up a year in grade school."**

"Now Darry's psychic, too!" "Yet you're the only psycho." "Keep quiet, _Ponyboy_ Curtis."

**Cherry was looking at me. "What's a nice, smart kid like you running around with trash like that for?"**

**I felt myself stiffen. "I'm a grease, same as Dally. He's my buddy."**

"Good job, Pony, wait to ruin your chances with the Soc." "Two-Bit, don't make me put this book down so I can shut you up."

**"I'm sorry, Ponyboy," she said softly. Then she said briskly, "Your brother Sodapop, does he work at a gasoline station? A DX, I think?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Man, your brother is one doll. I might have guessed you were brothers- you look alike."**

**I grinned with pride- I don't think I look one bit like Soda, but it's not every day I hear Socs telling me they think my brother is a doll.**

"Pony, you DO look like Soda. At least, you did until you went blond." "Thanks and I hate you, Darry." "Love you, too"

**"Didn't he used to ride in rodeos? Saddle bronc?"**

**"Yeah. Dad made him quit after he tore a ligament, though. We still hang around rodeos a lot. I've seen you two barrel race. You're good."**

**"Thanks," Cherry said, and the other girl, who was named Marcia, said, "How come we don't see your brother at school? He's not any older than sixteen or seventeen, is he?"**

**I winced inside. I've told you I can't stand it that Soda dropped out. "He's a dropout," I said roughly. "Dropout" made me think of some poor dumb-looking hoodlum wandering the streets breaking out street lights- it didn't fit my happy-go-lucky brother at all. It fitted Dally perfectly, but you could hardly say it about Soda.**

"I DO have a full-time job, Pony. Unless you and Darry kick me out, you know I won't end up like that." "Then Darry ain't aloud to kick you out." "Who said I'd kick Soda out?"

**Johnny came back then and sat down beside me. He looked around for Dally, then managed a shy "Hi" to the girls and tried to watch the movie. He was nervous, though. Johnny was always nervous around strangers. Cherry looked at him, sizing him up as she had me. Then she smiled softly, and I knew she had him sized up right.**

**Dally came striding back with an armful of Cokes. He handed one to each of the girls and sat down beside Cherry. "This might cool you off."**

**She gave him an incredulous look; and then she threw her Coke in his face. "That might cool you off, greaser. After you wash your mouth and learn to talk and act decent, I might cool off, too."**

"Oh, snap, Cherry, you'd better run!"

**Dally wiped the Coke off his face with his sleeve and smiled dangerously. If I had been Cherry I would have beat it out of there. I knew that smile.**

"RUN, CHERRY!" "Stop yelling at a BOOK, Two-Bit." " I'm not, I'm yelling at Cherry."

**"Fiery, huh? Well, that's the way I like 'em." He started to put his arm around her, but Johnny reached over and stopped him.**

**"Leave her alone, Dally."**

**"Huh?" Dally was taken off guard. He stared at Johnny in disbelief. Johnny couldn't say "Boo" to a goose. Johnny gulped and got a little pale, but he said, "You heard me. Leave her alone."**

Stunned-as-hell silence. JOHNNY telling DALLY NO?! Pony just sat there and watched us gawk.

**Dallas scowled for a second. If it had been me, or Two-Bit, or Soda or Steve, or anyone but Johnny, Dally would have flattened him without a moment's hesitation. You just didn't tell Dally Winston what to do. One time, in a dime store, a guy told him to move over at the candy counter. Dally had turned around and belted him so hard it knocked a tooth loose. A complete stranger, too. But Johnny was the gang's pet, and Dally just couldn't hit him. He was Dally's pet, too. Dally got up and stalked off, his fists jammed in his pockets and a frown on his face. He didn't come back.**

**Cherry sighed in relief. "Thanks. He had me scared to death."**

**Johnny managed an admiring grin. "You sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dally like that."**

**She smiled, "From what I saw, you do."**

"No, he doesn't" I said slowly and seriously, "Johnny doesn't EVER talk to anyone like that, much less Dal." I had a feeling we were glimpsing at a new side of Johnny….

**Ok, you know what to do! Review and comment! They inspire me and help me become a better writer! Stay Gold!**


	6. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

**I want to apologize for the lack of update today. School is killing me, particularly Greek. For this reason, I'm double updating this weekend, triple if I'm stuck inside due to snow. So, sorry, but look forward to this weekend!**


	7. Chapter 2, Part 2

**Here's part 1 of my major update this weekend! Enjoy! **

**Soda's POV**

Wow. Just…. Wow. I couldn't believe little Johnnycakes had talked back to his hero. After a few minutes silence, Steve started reading again.

**Johnny's ears got red. I was still staring at him. It had taken more than nerve for him to say what he'd said to Dally- Johnny worshiped the ground Dallas walked on, and I had never heard Johnny talk back to anyone, much less his hero.  
Marcia grinned at us. She was a little smaller than Cherry. She was cute, but that Cherry Valance was a real looker. "Y'all sit up here with us. You can protect us."**

"Protect them? You can't protect your own asses!" "Two-Bit…" "Ponyboy…"

**Johnny and I looked at each other. He grinned suddenly, raising his eyebrows so that they disappeared under his bangs. Would we ever have something to tell the boys! his eyes said plainly. We had picked up two girls, and classy ones at that. Not any greasy broads for us, but real Socs. Soda would flip when I told him.**

"I wouldn't just flip, I'd laugh! My little brother is growing up!" It seemed like just yesterday Pony hated girls…

**"Okay," I said nonchalantly, "might as well."  
I sat between them, and Johnny sat next to Cherry.  
"How old are y'all?" Marcia asked.  
"Fourteen," I said.  
"Sixteen," said Johnny.  
'That's funny," Marcia said, "I thought you were both..."  
"Sixteen," Cherry finished for her.  
I was grateful. Johnny looked fourteen and he knew it and it bugged him something awful.  
Johnny grinned. "How come y'all ain't scared of us like you were Dally?"**

"Cuz you're both just so adorable!" "Matthews, you're just asking for an ass whooping." "Chill, Pony." "K, Darry." While I was laughing, Steve and I shared a glance, and I saw a rare grin on his face. My buddy really seemed to want to make it up to my baby brother for the way he acted. This filled me joy.

**Cherry sighed. "You two are too sweet to scare anyone. First of all, you didn't join in Dallas's dirty talk, and you made him leave us alone. And when we asked you to sit up here with us, you didn't act like it was an invitation to make out for the night. Besides that, I've heard about Dallas Winston, and he looked as hard as nails and twice as tough. And you two don't look mean."  
"Sure," I said tiredly, "we're young and innocent"  
"No," Cherry said slowly, looking at me carefully, "not innocent. You've seen too much to be innocent. Just not... dirty."**

I frowned at the heavy truth of Chery's statement. Pony has been through way too much, and I felt bad for not protecting him better.

**"Dally's okay," Johnny said defensively, and I nodded. You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you're a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don't stickup for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn't a gang any more. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering pack like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber. "He's tough, but he's a cool old guy."**

"Well said, Pony. Unlike those Socs, we stand together like the brothers we are." Everyone nodded at Darry, he couldn't have been more right.

**"He'd leave you alone if he knew you," I said, and that was true. When Steve's cousin from Kansas came down, Dally was decent to her and watched his swearing. We all did around nice girls who were the cousinly type. I don't know how to explain it- we try to be nice to the girls we see once in awhile, like cousins or the girls in class; but we still watch a nice girl go by on a street corner and say all kinds of lousy stuff about her. Don't ask me why. I don't know why.  
"Well," Marcia said with finality, "I'm glad he doesn't know us."  
"I kind of admire him," Cherry said softly, so only I heard, and then we settled down to watch the movie.**

"Ohhh, Cherry likes Dal." "Two-Bit, you liked Marcia! Keep reading, Steve, it says it soon."

**Oh, yeah, we found out why they were without a car. They'd come with their boyfriends, but walked out on them when they found out the boys had brought some booze along. The boys had gotten angry and left.  
"I don't care if they did." Cherry sounded annoyed. "It's not my idea of a good time to sit in a drive-in and watch people get drunk."  
You could tell by the way she said it that her idea of a good time was probably, high-class, and probably expensive. They'd decided to stay and see the movie anyway. It was one of those beach-party movies with no plot and no acting but a lot of girls in bikinis and some swinging songs, so it was all right. We were all four sitting there in silence when suddenly a strong hand came down on Johnny's shoulder and another on mine and a deep voice said, "Okay, greasers, you've had it"  
**

My blood ran ice cold. Darry and Steve tensed. I doubted I could take listening to Pony get another beating…..

**I almost jumped out of my skin. It was like having some one leap out from behind a door and yell "Boo!" at you.  
I looked fearfully over my shoulder and there was Two-Bit, grinning like a Chessy cat. "Glory, Two-Bit, scare us to death!" **

"Two-Bit Matthews, what the hell is wrong with you, were you TRYING to give Pony and Johnny heartattacks?!" I wanted to wring my buddy's neck for scaring us all. "Oh, come on, I was just messing with them, sides I apologized!"

**He was good at voice imitations and had sounded for all the world like a snarling Soc. Then I looked at Johnny. His eyes were shut and he was as white as a ghost. His breath was coming in smothered gasps. Two-Bit knew better than to scare Johnny like that. I guess he'd forgotten. He's kind of scatterbrained. Johnny opened his eyes and said weakly, "Hey, Two-Bit."  
Two-Bit messed up his hair, "Sorry, kid," he said, "I forgot."**

"See? It's all good." "I bet by the end of this story, I'm gonna have beat your head in, Matthews."**  
**

**He climbed over the chair and plopped down beside Marcia. "Who's this, your great-aunts?"  
"Great-grandmothers, twice removed," Cherry said smoothly.  
I couldn't tell if Two-Bit was drunk or not. It's kind of hard to tell with him- he acts boozed up sometimes even when he's sober. He cocked one eyebrow up and the other down, which he always does when something puzzles him, or bothers him, or when he feels like saying some thing smart. "Shoot, you're ninety-six if you're a day."  
"I'm a night," Marcia said brightly.  
Two-Bit stared at her admiringly. "Brother, you're a sharp one. Where'd you two ever get to be picked up by a couple of greasy hoods like Pony and Johnny?"  
"We really picked them up," Marcia said. "We're really Arabian slave traders and we're thinking about shanghaiing them. They're worth ten camels apiece at least."  
**

"Two-Bit and Marcia" Steve and I sung over and over again, causing Two-Bit to glare something fierce.

**"Five," Two-Bit disagreed. "They don't talk Arabian, I don't think. Say somethin' in Arabian, Johnnycake." "Aw, cut it out!" Johnny broke in. "Dally was bothering them and when he left they wanted us to sit with them to protect them. Against wisecracking greasers like you, probably."  
Two-Bit grinned, because Johnny didn't usually get sassy like that. We thought we were doing good if we could get him to talk at all. Incidentally, we don't mind being called greaser by another greaser. It's kind of playful then.**

"Got that right, greaser." "Thanks, greaser." "Soda, Pony, I swear I can't be related to you jokers." "Unfortunately for you, Dar, we ARE." "Zip it, Pony."**  
**

**"Hey, where is old Dally, anyways?"  
"He went hunting some action- booze or dames or a fight. I hope he don't get jailed again. He just got out"  
"He'll probably find the fight," Two-Bit stated cheerfully. "That's why I came over. Mr. Timothy Shepard and Co. are looking for whoever so kindly slashed their car's tires, and since Mr. Curly Shepard spotted Dallas doing it... well... Does Dally have a blade?"  
"Not that I know of," I said. "I think he's got a piece of pipe, but he busted his blade this morning."  
"Good. Tim'll fight fair if Dally don't pull a blade on him. Dally shouldn't have any trouble."  
Cherry and Marcia were staring at us. "You don't believe in playing rough or anything, do you?"  
"A fair fight isn't rough;' Two-Bit said. "Blades are rough. So are chains and heaters and pool sticks and rumbles. Skin fighting isn't rough. It blows off steam better than anything. There's nothing wrong with throwing a few punches. Socs are rough. They gang up on one or two, or they rumble each other with their social clubs. Us greasers usually stick together, but when we do fight among ourselves, it's a fair fight between two. And Dally deserves whatever he gets, 'cause slashed tires ain't no joke when you've got to work to pay for them. He got spotted, too, and that was his fault. Our one rule, besides Stick together, is Don't get caught. He might get beat up, he might not. Either way there's not going to be any blood feud between our outfit and Shepard's, If we needed them tomorrow they'd show. If Tim beats Dally's head in, and then tomorrow asks us for help in a rumble, we'll show. Dally was getting kicks. He got caught. He pays up. No sweat."  
"Yeah, boy," Cherry said sarcastically, "real simple."  
"Sure," Marcia said, unconcerned. "If he gets killed or something, you just bury him. No sweat"**

We all winced. I could tell Two-Bit regretted those words. He hadn't known what would happen.**  
**

**"You dig okay, baby." Two-Bit grinned and lit a cigarette. "Anyone want a weed?"  
I looked at Two-Bit admiringly. He sure put things into words good. Maybe he was still a junior at eighteen and a half, and maybe his sideburns were too long, and maybe he did get boozed up too much, but he sure understood things.**

"Cool, I understand things just like Sodapop!" "Soda's better than you." "Curtis, if you wish to keep your ass unbeaten, shut up."

I glared at Two-Bit mockingly, "Lay one hand on my baby brother and I'll skin you, Matthews, and that's a promise." I was half-joking, half-dead serious. NOBODY hurts Pony. Not even the gang.

**Cherry and Marcia shook their heads at his offering of cigarettes, but Johnny and I reached for one. Johnny's color was back and his breathing was regular, but his hand was shaking ever so slightly. A cigarette would steady it.  
"Ponyboy, will you come with me to get some popcorn?" Cherry asked.  
I jumped up. "Sure. Y'all want some?"  
"I do," said Marcia. She was finishing the Coke Dally had given her. I realized then that Marcia and Cherry weren't alike. Cherry had said she wouldn't drink Dally's Coke if she was starving, and she meant it. It was the principle of the thing. But Marcia saw no reason to throw away a perfectly good, free Coke.  
"Me too," said Two-Bit. He flipped me a fifty cent piece. "Get Johnny some, too. I'm buyin'," he added as Johnny started to reach into his jeans pocket.  
We went to the concession stand and, as usual, there was a line a mile long, so we had to wait. Quite a few kids turned to look at us- you didn't see a kid grease and a Socy cheerleader together often. Cherry didn't seem to notice.  
"Your friend- the one with the sideburns- he's okay?"  
"He ain't dangerous like Dallas if that's what you mean. He's okay."  
She smiled and her eyes showed that her mind was on something else. "Johnny... he's been hurt bad sometime, hasn't he?" It was more of a statement than a question. "Hurt and scared."  
"It was the Socs," I said nervously, because there were plenty of Socs milling around and some of them were giving me funny looks, as if I shouldn't be with Cherry or something. And I don't like to talk about it either- Johnny getting beat up, I mean. But I started in, talking a little faster than I usually do because I don't like to think about it either.**

We all paused. I could tell Steve didn't want to continue. Darry finally said, "Let's get some dinner, then we'll start again." We all nodded and headed towards the kitchen, all silently wrapped in our own thoughts of Johnny and Dally.

**Here's an update for ya! If you want the next chapter tomorrow, let's get up to 20 reviews! Remember, constructive criticism appreciated, just don't be mean about it! (No one has been to me so far, but I just read a fic that was flamed) Stay Gold, Greasers!**


	8. Chapter 2, Part 3

**Thanks soooo much you guys are sooo awesome! I promise to make this chapter epic. Oh, I'm sorry I didn't clarify this, each update is its own chapter. "Chapter 2, Part1" just means that it is that chapter of the actually book, The Outsiders. Sorry for any confusion!**

**Chapter 2, Part 3**

**Steve's POV**

"Wow, Soda, that dinner was… interesting", I said slowly. Soda had made, get this, BLUE SPAGHETTI. We had all refused to eat it until Soda explained it was just food dye.

"Gee, thanks buddy! Soda smiled a mile long. "Now, you wanna finish this chapter?" Darry asked me. I gulped, cuz to be honest, I really didn't. Pony saw this and said, "Let me read it"

This shocked us all. Ponyboy, I thought, oughta be the last person to read this but he just grabbed the book and said, "I wanna do this for Johnny." We all nodded and let him read.

**IT WAS ALMOST four months ago. I had walked down to the DX station to get a bottle of pop and to see Steve and Soda, because they'll always buy me a couple of bottles and let me help work on the cars. I don't like to go on weekends because then there is usually a bunch of girls down there flirting with Soda- all kinds of girls, Socs too. I don't care too much for girls yet. Soda says I'll grow out of it. He did.**

"God, did he outgrow it," Darry remarked. Soda threw a pillow at him while the rest of us laughed.

**It was a warmish spring day with the sun shining bright, but it was getting chilly and dark by the time we started for home. We were walking because we had left Steve's car at the station. At the corner of our block there's a wide, open field where we play football and hang out, and it's often a site for rumbles and fist fights. We were passing it, kicking rocks down the street and finishing our last bottle of Pepsi, when Steve noticed something lying on the ground. He picked it up. It was Johnny's blue-jeans jacket- the only jacket he had.  
"Looks like Johnny forgot his jacket," Steve said, slinging it over his shoulder to take it by Johnny's house. Suddenly he stopped and examined it more carefully. There was a stain the color of rust across the collar. He looked at the ground. There were some more stains on the grass. He looked up and across the field with a stricken expression on his face. I think we all heard the low moan and saw the dark motionless hump on the other side of the lot at the same time. Soda reached him first. Johnny was lying face down on the ground. Soda turned him over gently, and I nearly got sick. Someone had beaten him badly.**

Pony's voice broke at the word badly, causing Soda, who was sitting next to him, to wrap an arm around his little brother.

**We were used to seeing Johnny banged up- his father clobbered him around a lot, and although it made us madder than heck, we couldn't do anything about it. But those beatings had been nothing like this. Johnny's face was cut up and bruised and swollen, and there was a wide gash from his temple to his cheekbone. He would carry that scar all his life. His white T-shirt was splattered with blood. I just stood there, trembling with sudden cold. I thought he might be dead; surely nobody could be beaten like that and live. Steve closed his eyes for a second and muffled a groan as he dropped on his knees beside Soda.  
Somehow the gang sensed what had happened. Two-Bit was suddenly there beside me, and for once his comical grin was gone and his dancing gray eyes were stormy. Darry had seen us from our porch and ran toward us, suddenly skidding to a halt. Dally was there, too, swearing under his breath, and turning away with a sick expression on his face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dally had seen people killed on the streets of New York's West Side. Why did he look sick now?**

Pony barked, "Well, I know now, it's cuz Dally really loved Johnny." We all nodded.

**"Johnny?" Soda lifted him up and held him against his shoulder. He gave the limp body a slight shake. "Hey, Johnnycake."  
Johnny didn't open his eyes, but there came a soft ques tion. "Soda?"  
"Yeah, it's me," Sodapop said. "Don't talk. You're gonna be okay."  
"There was a whole bunch of them," Johnny went on, swallowing, ignoring Soda's command. "A blue Mustang full... I got so scared..." He tried to swear, but suddenly started crying, fighting to control himself, then sobbing all the more because he couldn't. I had seen Johnny take a whipping with a two-by-four from his old man and never let out a whimper. That made it worse to see him break now. Soda just held him and pushed Johnny's hair back out of his eyes. "It's okay, Johnnycake, they're gone now. It's okay."  
Finally, between sobs, Johnny managed to gasp out his story. He had been hunting our football to practice a few kicks when a blue Mustang had pulled up beside the lot. There were four Socs in it. They had caught him and one of them had a lot of rings on his hand- that's what had cut Johnny up so badly. It wasn't just that they had beaten him half to death- he could take that. They had scared him. They had threatened him with everything under the sun. Johnny was high-strung anyway, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time he turned around and from hearing his parents fight all the time. Living in those conditions might have turned someone else rebellious and bitter; it was killing Johnny. He had never been a coward. He was a good man in a rumble. He stuck up for the gang and kept his mouth shut good around cops. But after the night of the beating, Johnny was jumpier than ever. I didn't think he'd ever get over it. Johnny never walked by himself after that. And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He'd use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had scared him that much. He would kill the next person who jumped him. Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body...**

"And he did kill the next person who jumped him. JOHNNY, the pet of the gang, KILLED a Soc for almost drowning Pony." I was seeing red I was so mad. Soda got up and wrapped an arm around me, and said, "I know, Steve, I know."

Pony wiped from his eyes a few tears while Darry hugged him. Two-Bit sat looking into space, as if to avoid this reality. Finally, Pony sighed and said, "Let's keep reading." "I'll take over for you, Pony", I said sympathetically, taking the book from the kid's trembling hands.****

I HAD NEARLY forgotten that Cherry was listening to me. But when I came back to reality and looked at her, I was startled to find her as white as a sheet.  
"All Socs aren't like that," she said. "You have to believe me, Ponyboy. Not all of us are like that."  
"Sure," I said.  
"That's like saying all you greasers are like Dallas Winston. I'll bet he's jumped a few people."  
I digested that. It was true. Dally had jumped people. He had told us stories about muggings in New York that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But not all of us were that bad.

"We're all just treated bad." No one could disagree with Pony.

**Cherry no longer looked sick, only sad. "I'll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the West-side Socs. I'll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. We have troubles you've never even heard of. You want to know something?" She looked me straight in the eye. "Things are rough all over."  
"I believe you," I said. "We'd better get back out there with the popcorn or Two-Bit'll think I ran off with his money."**

"In which case, I would gladly beat the crap outta you, Ponboy" Two-Bit threatened jokingly, clearly trying to lighten the mood. To his credit, the tension did lift slightly. **  
**

**We went back and watched the movie through again. Marcia and Two-Bit were hitting it off fine. Both had the same scatterbrained sense of humor. But Cherry and Johnny and I just sat there, looking at the movie and not talking. I quit worrying about everything and thought about how nice it was to sit with a girl without having to listen to her swear or to beat her off with a club. I knew Johnny liked it, too. He didn't talk to girls much. Once, while Dallas was in reform school, Sylvia had started hanging on to Johnny and sweet talking him and Steve got hold of her and told her if she tried any of her tricks with Johnny he'd personally beat the tar out of her. Then he gave Johnny a lecture on girls and how a sneaking little broad like Sylvia would get him into a lot of trouble. As a result, Johnny never spoke to girls much, but whether that was because he was scared of Steve or because he was shy, I couldn't tell.**

I groaned, "Don't tell me I scared Johnny, too." "Chill, Steve", Pony responded, actually standing up and patting my shoulder to comfort me, "You know the only thing he wasn't scared of was the gang."

"Well, he was scared of disappointing us", Darry reminded thoughtfully. We all were kinda shocked when we realized how right he was. But Johnny knew we loved and needed him….. Right?**  
**

**I got the same lecture from Two-Bit after we'd picked up a couple of girls downtown one day. I thought it was funny, because girls are one subject even Darry thinks I use my head about. And it really had been funny, because Two-Bit was half crocked when he gave me the lecture, and he told me some stories that about made me want to crawl under the floor or something.**

"Two-Bit…", Soda and Darry scowled. Two-Bit threw up his hands to defend himself. "Hey, he's still innocent, ain't he?" "For your sake, he better be." Darry snapped. "I am!", Pony squeaked, making us all laugh at his embarrassment.

**But he had been talking about girls like Sylvia and the girls he and Dally and the rest picked up at drive-ins and downtown; he never said anything about Socy girls. So I figured it was all right to be sitting there with them. Even if they did have their own troubles. I really couldn't see what Socs would have to sweat about- good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs- Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I'd consider myself lucky.  
I know better now.**

"That's the end of chapter two", I smirked at Pony, "Thanks to my assistant, by the way." "No prob, Stevie", and I couldn't help but grin, Pony has never before called me Stevie. Maybe we could be better buddies from now on.

"Who wants chapter three?", and Soda automatically grabbed the book from my hands. "I wanna do it!" I smiled at Soda, but frowned when I noticed that Darry had suddenly tensed. I had a bad feeling about chapter three….

**Okay, so thanks again to all those who reviewed, I try to soak up the wisdom! I will try to update again tomorrow, but feel free to let me know if there's something you want me to add to the story! I promise to try to incorporate anything you guys think would be good! Stay Gold!**


	9. Chapter 3, Part 1

**Here's the start of the drama! Things should move faster now!**

**Pony's POV**

**Chapter 3  
**

"Soooo, should I start reading or what?", Soda joked nervously. By the look on Darry's face, Soda wasn't the only one nervous. You see, the boys didn't exactly know WHY Johnny and I were in the park that fateful night. So, yeah, we had a reason to be nervous. But Soda started up anyway.

**AFTER THE MOVIE was over it suddenly came to us that Cherry and Marcia didn't have a way to get home. Two-Bit gallantly offered to walk them home- the west side of town was only about twenty miles away- but they wanted to call their parents and have them come and get them. Two-Bit finally talked them into letting us drive them home in his car. I think they were still half-scared of us. They were getting over it, though, as we walked to Two-Bit's house to pick up the car. It seemed funny to me that Socs- if these girls were any example- were just like us. They liked the Beatles and thought Elvis Presley was out, and we thought the Beatles were rank and that Elvis was tuff, but that seemed the only difference to me. Of course greasy girls would have acted a lot tougher, but there was a basic sameness. I thought maybe it was money that separated us.**

"Actually… No. Lord knows we are the only reason Dar ain't a Soc", Two-Bit remarked slyly as Darry hit him. "Lord knows you'd be screwed without me." Dar scowled. "True", Two-Bit admitted good-naturedly.

**"No," Cherry said slowly when I said this. "It's not just money. Part of it is, but not all. You greasers have a different set of values. You're more emotional. We're sophisticated- cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us. You know, sometimes I'll catch myself talking to a girl-friend, and realize I don't mean half of what I'm saying. I don't really think a beer blast on the river bottom is super-cool, but I'll rave about one to a girl-friend just to be saying something." She smiled at me. "I never told anyone that. I think you're the first person I've ever really gotten through to."  
**

"Oh, Ponyboy, you're the first person I've ever really gotten through to. I looove you…", I cut off Two-Bit's teasing with a pillow to the face. But old Two-Bit just smiled and said, "You KNOW you like her more than you let on." "Whatever", was the only response I could think of, which made Dar, Soda, and Steve chuckle. Stupid Two-Bit.

**She was coming through to me all right, probably because I was a greaser, and younger; she didn't have to keep her guard up with me.  
"Rat race is a perfect name for it," she said. "We're always going and going and going, and never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy us, and never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool, we could."  
That was the truth. Socs were always behind a wall of aloofness, careful not to let their real selves show through. I had seen a social-club rumble once. The Socs even fought coldly and practically and impersonally.**

**"That's why we're separated," I said. "It's not money, it's feeling- you don't feel anything and we feel too violently."**

"Never thought of it, but you're right, Pony. We have passion and fight with passion, and Socs are cold and fight coldly" Steve observed, "But then again, we care for things and people, and Socs don't." No one argued.

**"And"- she was trying to hide a smile- "that's probably why we take turns getting our names in the paper."  
Two-Bit and Marcia weren't even listening to us. They were engaged in some wild conversation that made no sense to anyone but themselves.**

"Then again, when CAN anyone understand you Two-Bit?" I said with a cocky grin. Steve nodded appreciatively at me, and Soda said, "Now maybe you'll think twice about teasing my little brother Two-Bit", while Two-Bit sat pouting in the corner like a kid. Who am I kidding, Two-Bit IS a kid.

**I have quite a rep for being quiet, almost as quiet as Johnny. Two-Bit always said he wondered why Johnny and I were such good buddies. "You must make such interestin' conversation," he'd say, cocking one eyebrow, "you keepin' your mouth shut and Johnny not sayin' anything." But Johnny and I understood each other without saying anything. Nobody but Soda could really get me talking. Till I met Cherry Valance.**

"Oh, Soda, looks like you got competition!" Steve smirked. Soda replied, "You know the old saying, bros before.." "Soda…" Darry warned. "Socs", Soda finished. I rolled my eyes.

**I don't know why I could talk to her; maybe for the same reason she could talk to me. The first thing I knew I was telling her about Mickey Mouse, Soda's horse. I had never told anyone about Soda's horse. It was personal.**

Soda smiled wistfully, "Good old Mickey."**  
Soda had this buckskin horse, only it wasn't his. It belonged to a guy who kept it at the stables where Soda used to work. Mickey Mouse was Soda's horse, though. The first day Soda saw him he said, "There's my horse," and I never doubtedit. I was about ten then. Sodapop is horsecrazy. I mean it. He's always hanging around stables and rodeos, hopping on a horse every time he gets a chance. When I was ten I thought that Mickey Mouse and Soda looked alike and were alike. Mickey Mouse was a dark-gold buckskin, sassy and ornery, not much more than a colt. He'd come when Soda called him. He wouldn't come for anyone else. That horse loved Soda. He'd stand there and chew on Soda's sleeve or collar. Gosh, but Sodapop was crazy about that horse. He went down to see him every day. Mickey Mouse was a mean horse: He kicked other horses and was always getting into trouble. "I've got me a ornery pony," Soda'd tell him, rubbing his neck. "How come you're so mean, Mickey Mouse?" Mickey Mouse would just chew on his sleeve and sometimes nip him. But not hard. He may have belonged to another guy, but he was Soda's horse.  
"Does Soda still have him?" Cherry asked.  
"He got sold," I said. "They came and got him one day and took him off. He was a real valuable horse. Pure quarter."  
She didn't say anything else and I was glad. I couldn't tell her that Soda had bawled all night long after they came and got Mickey Mouse. I had cried, too, if you want to know the truth, because Soda never really wanted any thing except a horse, and he'd lost his. Soda had been twelve then, going-on-thirteen. He never let on to Mom and Dad how he felt, though, because we never had enough money and usually we had a hard time making ends meet. When you're thirteen in our neighborhood you know the score. I kept saving my money for a year, thinking that someday I could buy Mickey Mouse back for Soda. You're not so smart at ten.**

"Awww, I never knew you did that. Thanks, little brother." Soda smiled sweetly. "Well, at least I still got my baby Pony." "Soda, that was corny as hell." Steve remarked, which earned him a pillow in the stomach. We really are violent today, I thought. **  
**

**"You read a lot, don't you, Ponyboy?" Cherry asked.  
I was startled. "Yeah. Why?"  
She kind of shrugged. "I could just tell. I'll bet you watch sunsets, too." She was quiet for a minute after I nodded. "I used to watch them, too, before I got so busy..."  
I pictured that, or tried to. Maybe Cherry stood still and watched the sun set while she was supposed to be taking the garbage out. Stood there and watched and forgot everything else until her big brother screamed at her to hurry up. I shook my head. It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and, the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.  
Marcia suddenly gasped. "Cherry, look what's coming."  
We all looked and saw a blue Mustang coming down the street. Johnny made a small noise in his throat and when I looked at him he was white.**

"Wait, what?!", Steve, Soda, and Darry all looked up at me. "Keep reading" I managed. They all tensed, except for Two-Bit.

**Marcia was shifting nervously. "What are we going to do?"  
Cherry bit a fingernail. "Stand here," she said. "There isn't much else we can do."  
"Who is it?" Two-Bit asked. "The F.B.I.?"  
"No," Cherry said bleakly, "it's Randy and Bob."  
"And," Two-Bit added grimly, "a few other of the socially elite checkered-shirt set"  
"Your boyfriends?" Johnny's voice was steady, but standing as close to him as I was, I could see he was trembling. I wondered why- Johnny was a nervous wreck, but he never was that jumpy.  
Cherry started walking down the street. "Maybe they won't see us. Act normal."  
"Who's acting?" Two-Bit grinned. "I'm a natural normal."  
"Wish it was the other way around," I muttered, and Two-Bit said, "Don't get mouthy, Ponyboy"  
The Mustang passed us slowly and went right on by. Marcia sighed in relief. 'That was close."**

All three untensed. "See? I was there, everything was under control." Two-Bit didn't seem to realize this statement just made the others want to jump him. **  
**

**Cherry turned to me. "Tell me about your oldest brother. You don't talk much about him."  
I tried to think of something to say about Darry, and shrugged. "What's to talk about? He's big and handsome and likes to play football."**

"THAT'S your description of me?" Darry asked incredulously. I bit my lip. If he was mad about that, he was gonna flip in about two seconds.

**"I mean, what's he like? I feel like I know Soda from the way you talk about him; tell me about Darry." And when I was silent she urged me on. "Is he wild and reckless like Soda? Dreamy, like you?" My face got hot as I bit my lip. Darry... what was Darry like? "He's..." I started to say he was a good ol' guy but I couldn't.**

The room was completely still. I'm so sorry, Darry, I thought.

**I burst out bitterly: "He's not like Sodapop at all and he sure ain't like me. He's hard as a rock and about as human. He's got eyes exactly like frozen ice. He thinks I'm a pain in the neck. He likes Soda- everybody likes Soda- but he can't stand me. I bet he wishes he could stick me in a home somewhere, and he'd do it, too, if Soda'd let him."  
**

Silence. I just stared at my shoes, refusing to look at Darry. Finally, Steve said, "Pony, I know you said earlier that you guys are cool, but I have to ask… WHAT THE HELL?!"

"It's all my fault. Not Pony's but mine. I'm the reason everything went so wrong." Everyone looked over at Darry. **  
**

**Review, Comment, Favorite, and Follow! Hope all my greasers are loving the suspense! Stay Gold!**


	10. Chapter 3, Part 2

**Thanks to my greasers, this awesome update is for you!**

**Chapter 3, Part 2**

**Darry's POV**

"Darrel Curtis, what the hell are you talking about?!", Steve growled angrily. Both he and Two-Bit looked confused and mad as all get out. Not that I blame them.

"Something happened the night Johnny and Pony got jumped. I did something that caused everything to go to heck." I stated bluntly. "We are probably about to read it, aren't we, Pony?"

Pony looked at me with pity as he said, "Yeah. We are getting close." I motioned for Soda to continue reading, and he did.

**Two-Bit and Johnny were staring at me now. "No..." Two-Bit said, dumfounded. "No, Ponyboy, that ain't right... you got it wrong..."  
"Gee," Johnny said softly, "I thought you and Darry and Soda got along real well..."  
"Well, we don't," I snapped, feeling silly. I knew my ears were red by the way they were burning, and I was thankful for the darkness. I felt stupid. Compared to Johnny's home, mine was heaven. At least Darry didn't get drunk and beat me up or run me out of the house, and I had Sodapop to talk things over with. That made me mad, I mean making a fool of myself in front of everyone. "An' you can shut your trap, Johnny Cade, 'cause we all know you ain't wanted at home, either. And you can't blame them."  
Johnny's eyes went round and he winced as though I'd belted him. Two-Bit slapped me a good one across the side of the head, and hard.  
"Shut your mouth, kid. If you wasn't Soda's kid brother I'd beat the tar out of you. You know better than to talk to Johnny like that." He put his hand on Johnny's shoulder. "He didn't mean it, Johnny."  
"I'm sorry," I said miserably. Johnny was my buddy. "I was just mad."**

"You got quite a temper, huh, Pony? But we all know you'd never mean that. You and Johnny, you two were as close as me and Soda." Steve smiled reasurringly at Pony, who looked miserable. "Thanks, Stevie, you dig good."

**"It's the truth," Johnny said with a bleak grin. "I don't care."  
"Shut up talkin' like that," Two-Bit said fiercely, messing up Johnny's hair. "We couldn't get along without you, so you can just shut up!"  
"It ain't fair!" I cried passionately. "It ain't fair that we have all the rough breaks!" I didn't know exactly what I meant, but I was thinking about Johnny's father being a drunk and his mother a selfish slob, and Two-Bit's mother being a barmaid to support him and his kid sister after their father ran out on them, and Dally- wild, cunning Dally- turning into a hoodlum because he'd die if he didn't, and Steve- his hatred for his father coming out in his soft, bitter voice and the violence of his temper. Sodapop... a dropout so he could get a job and keep me in school, and Darry, getting old before his time trying to run a family and hold on to two jobs and never having any fun- while the Socs had so much spare time and money that they jumped us and each other for kicks, had beer blasts and river-bottom parties because they didn't know what else to do. Things were rough all over, all right. All over the East Side. It just didn't seem right to me.**

"It ain't right, Pony, it just ain't", Soda said as he hugged Pony's shoulders.

**"I know," Two-Bit said with a good-natured grin, "the chips are always down when it's our turn, but that's the way things are. Like it or lump it."  
Cherry and Marcia didn't say anything. I guess they didn't know what to say. We had forgotten they were there. Then the blue Mustang was coming down the street again, more slowly.  
"Well," Cherry said resignedly, "they've spotted us."  
The Mustang came to a halt beside us, and the two boys in the front seat got out. They were Socs all right. One had on a white shirt and a madras ski jacket, and the other a light yellow shirt and a wine-colored sweater. I looked at their clothes and realized for the first time that evening that all I had was a pair of jeans and Soda's old navy sweat shirt with the sleeves cut short. I swallowed. Two-Bit started to tuck in his shirttail, but stopped himself in time; he just flipped up the collar of his black leather jacket and lit a cigarette. The Socs didn't even seem to see us.**

Steve, Soda, and I all glared at Two-Bit. "Oh, I didn't mention they came back?' he frowned sheepishly.

**"Cherry, Marcia, listen to us..." the handsome black-haired Soc with the dark sweater began.  
Johnny was breathing heavily and I noticed he was staring at the Soc's hand. He was wearing three heavy rings. I looked quickly at Johnny, an idea dawning on me. I remembered that it was a blue Mustang that had pulled up beside the vacant lot and that Johnny's face had been cut up by someone wearing rings...  
The Soc's voice broke into my thoughts: "...just because we got a little drunk last time..."  
Cherry looked mad. "A little? You call reeling and passing out in the streets 'a little'? Bob, I told you, I'm never going out with you while you're drinking, and I mean it. Too many things could happen while you're drunk. It's me or the booze."  
The other Soc, a tall guy with a semi-Beatle haircut, turned to Marcia. "Baby, you know we don't get drunk very often..." When she only gave him a cold stare he got angry. "And even if you are mad at us, that's no reason to go walking the streets with these bums."  
Two-Bit took a long drag on his cigarette, Johnny slouched and hooked his thumbs in his pockets, and I stiffened. We can look meaner than anything when we want to- looking tough comes in handy. Two-Bit put his elbow on Johnny's shoulder. "Who you callin' bums?"  
"Listen, greasers, we got four more of us in the back seat..."  
"Then pity the back seat," Two-Bit said to the sky.  
"If you're looking for a fight..."  
Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow, but it only made him look more cool. "You mean if I'm looking for a good jumping, you outnumber us, so you'll give it to us? Well..." He snatched up an empty bottle, busted off the end, and gave it to me, then reached in his back pocket and flipped out his switchblade. "Try it, pal."  
"No!" Cherry cried. "Stop it!" She looked at Bob. "We'll ride home with you. Just wait a minute."**

"Thanks Cherry", Soda whispered. Johnny, Two-Bit and Pony against SIX SOCS? They wouldn't have stood a chance.**  
**

**"Why?" Two-Bit demanded. "We ain't scared of them."  
Cherry shuddered. "I can't stand fights... I can't stand them..."  
I pulled her to one side. "I couldn't use this," I said, dropping the pop bottle. "I couldn't ever cut anyone..." I had to tell her that, because I'd seen her eyes when Two-Bit flicked out his switch.**

"Pony. If it's you or them, YOU PICK YOU. Got it?", Soda stated firmly. Pony nodded. **  
**

**"I know," she said quietly, "but we'd better go with them. Ponyboy... I mean... if I see you in the hall at school or someplace and don't say hi, well, it's not personal or anything, but..."  
"I know," I said.  
"We couldn't let our parents see us with you all. You're a nice boy and everything..."  
"It's okay," I said, wishing I was dead and buried somewhere. Or at least that I had on a decent shirt. "We aren't in the same class. Just don't forget that some of us watch the sunset too."  
She looked at me quickly. "I could fall in love with Dallas Winston," she said. "I hope I never see him again, or I will."**

"DAMN!" everyone but Pony shouted. "I never told you? That's the reason she helped us out. She loved Dally", Pony said it as if it were obvious. **  
**

**She left me standing there with my mouth dropped open, and the blue Mustang vroomed off.  
We walked on home, mostly in silence. I wanted to ask Johnny if those were the same Socs that had beaten him up, but I didn't mention it. Johnny never talked about it and we never said anything.  
"Well, those were two good-lookin' girls if I ever saw any." Two-Bit yawned as we sat down on the curb at the vacant lot. He took a piece of paper out,of his pocket and tore it up.  
"What was that?"  
"Marcia's number. Probably a phony one, too. I must have been outa my mind to ask for it. I think I'm a little soused."  
So he had been drinking. Two-Bit was smart. He knew the score. "Y'all goin' home?" he asked.  
"Not right now," I said. I wanted to have another smoke and to watch the stars. I had to be in by twelve, but I thought I had plenty of time.**

"Guess I thought wrong", Pony mutered so only Soda and I could hear. Ponyboy…..**  
**

**"I don't know why I handed you that busted bottle," Two-Bit said, getting to his feet. "You'd never use it."  
"Maybe I would have," I said. "Where you headed?"  
"Gonna go play a little snooker and hunt up a poker game. Maybe get rip-roarin' drunk. I dunno. See y'all tomorrow."  
Johnny and I stretched out on our backs and looked at the stars. I was freezing- it was a cold night and all I had was that sweat shirt, but I could watch stars in sub-zero weather. I saw Johnny's cigarette glowing in the dark and wondered vaguely what it was like inside a burning ember...  
"It was because we're greasers," Johnny said, and I knew he was talking about Cherry. "We could have hurt her reputation."  
"I reckon," I said, wondering if I ought to tell Johnny what she had said about Dallas.  
"Man, that was a tuff car. Mustangs are tuff."  
"Big time Socs, all right," I said, a nervous bitterness growing inside me. It wasn't fair for the Socs to have everything. We were as good as they were; it wasn't our fault we were greasers. I couldn't just take it or leave it, like Two-Bit, or ignore it and love life anyway, like Sodapop, or harden myself beyond caring, like Dally, or actually enjoy it, like Tim Shepard. I felt the tension growing inside of me and I knew something had to happen or I would explode.**

"The more I read this, the more regrets I have about what I said", Pony said bitterly. "It's all in the past now, Pony", Two-Bit smiled coolly. **  
"I can't take much more." Johnny spoke my own feel ings. "I'll kill myself or something."**

"NO, JOHNNY!", we all screamed at once. Pony sighed. "Next part…"**  
"Don't," I said, sitting up in alarm. "You can't kill your self, Johnny."  
"Well, I won't. But I gotta do something. It seems like there's gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people. Plain ordinary people."**

"See? Johnny could never kill himself", Pony smiled lightly at the thought of his, as he called him, gallant buddy.**  
**

**"Out of the big towns," I said, lying back down. "In the country..."  
In the country... I loved the country. I wanted to be out of towns and away from excitement. I only wanted to lie on my back under a tree and read a book or draw a picture, and not worry about being jumped or carrying a blade or ending up married to some scatterbrained broad with no sense. The country would be like that, I thought dreamily. I would have a yeller cur dog, like I used to, and Sodapop could get Mickey Mouse back and ride in all the rodeos he wanted to, and Darry would lose that cold, hard look and be like he used to be, eight months ago, before Mom and Dad were killed. Since I was dreaming I brought Mom and Dad back to life... Mom could bake some more chocolate cakes and Dad would drive the pickup out early to feed the cattle. He would slap Darry on the back and tell him he was getting to be a man, a regular chip off the block, and they would be as close as they used to be. Maybe Johnny could come and live with us, and the gang could come out on weekends, and maybe Dallas would see that there was some good in the world after all, and Mom would talk to him and make him grin in spite of himself. "You've got quite a mom," Dally used to say. "She knows the score." She could talk to Dallas and kept him from getting into a lot of trouble. My mother was golden and beautiful...**

"Yes she was, Pony, yes she was", Steve smiled. We all smiled at the thought of only good parents in the gang, except Two-Bit's mom. **  
**

**"Ponyboy"- Johnny was shaking me- "Hey, Pony, wake up."  
I sat up, shivering. The stars had moved. "Glory, what time is it?"  
"I don't know. I went to sleep, too, listening to you rattle on and on. You'd better get home. I think I'll stay all night out here." Johnny's parents didn't care if he came home or not.  
"Okay." I yawned. Gosh, but it was cold. "If you get cold or something come on over to our house."  
"Okay."  
I ran home, trembling at the thought of facing Darry. **

He was ALREADY trembling BEFORE he walked in the door. What kind of big brother am I? I thought to myself. God, this was gonna be awful….

**The porch light was on. Maybe they were asleep and I could sneak in, I thought. I peeked in the window. Sodapop was stretched out on the sofa, sound asleep, but Darry was in the armchair under the lamp, reading the newspaper. I gulped, and opened the door softly. Darry looked up from his paper. He was on his feet in a second. I stood there, chewing on my fingernail.  
"Where the heck have you been? Do you know what time it is?" He was madder than I'd seen him in a long time. I shook my head wordlessly.  
"Well, it's two in the morning, kiddo. Another hour and I would have had the police out after you. Where were you, Ponyboy?"- his voice was rising- "Where in the almighty universe were you?"  
It sounded dumb, even to me, when I stammered, "I... I went to sleep in the lot..."  
"You what?" He was shouting, and Sodapop sat up and rubbed his eyes.  
"Hey, Ponyboy," he said sleepily, "where ya been?"  
"I didn't mean to." I pleaded with Darry. "I was talking to Johnny and we both dropped off..."  
"I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin. And you were asleep in the lot? Ponyboy, what on earth is the matter with you? Can't you use your head? You haven't even got a coat on."  
I felt hot tears of anger and frustration rising. "I said I didn't mean to..."  
"I didn't mean to!" Darry shouted, and I almost shook. "I didn't think! I forgot! That's all I hear out of you! Can't you think of anything?"**

Steve and Two-Bit were frozen with tension. I was screwed, because I was trembling from those words…**  
"Darry..." Sodapop began, but Darry turned on him. "You keep your trap shut! I'm sick and tired of hearin' you stick up for him."  
He should never yell at Soda. Nobody should ever holler at my brother. I exploded. "You don't yell at him!" I shouted. Darry wheeled around and slapped me so hard that it knocked me against the door.  
Suddenly it was deathly quiet. We had all frozen. Nobody in my family had ever hit me. Nobody.**

As Pony said, the room was deadly quiet.

**CLIFFHANGER! How will the guys react? What will the boys say? Can I get up to 40 reviews before Friday? Find out next time! **

**Happy Valentine's Day, Greasers!**


	11. Chapter 3, Part 3

**Thanks a bunch for the support, you guys and gals rock! This chapter's for you it's mostly dialogue!**

**Chapter 3, Part 3**

**Two-Bit's POV**

We were all dumb struck. Well, at least Steve and I were. How…. Why…. WHAT THE HELL?! I could barely comprehend it- Darry Curtis had SLAPPED his baby brother. The exact same night he had nearly been drowned. The one thing our gang should never do, he did it- hurt one of our own.

As we all sat in a circle, in a sudden burst of anger, Steve practically flew across the room and punched Darry in the jaw. Soda grabbed his buddy from behind to stop him from strangling Darry. "Steve!", Soda shouted, "Calm down, man, don't do something you'll regret!" "Soda! He HIT PONYBOY! It's HIS fault that Johnny killed that Soc, and he and Dally died!" Steve shouted back at Soda.

"How could you, Darry? Your own brother!", I screamed, "You ain't supposed to be like that! You are our leader, you keep us together!" That's when Pony stood up and said, "Everybody, stop!" We all froze.

Pony sighed, "Listen, Steve and Two-Bit, it ain't Darry's fault. I should've known better, and trust me I do now. But just cuz Dar drove me outta the house doesn't make him responsible for what happened after that. So, lay off, and calm down."

We all stared at Pony. Soda released Steve, who simply glared at Darry and nodded at Pony. I went over to my little brother and said, "How come you never told us, Pone? We would have helped you and Dar if you had asked." Pony shrugged and replied, "That was the first- and last- major blow out we've ever had. Besides, I knew how you'd react."

Darry stopped rubbing his jaw and said softly, "For what it's worth, I have never been sorrier for anything in my entire life, and I've vowed NEVER to raise my hand at my brothers again. I regret hitting my baby brother, who I'm responsible for, and I'd never put him at risk like that again."

Pony and Soda smiled, "We know, Dar", and hugged their big brother. But Steve and I just sat down.  
Continue reading, Soda. Let's see what other forms of child abuse Darrel used." Soda scowled and replied, "None. But I'll finish this chapter."

**Soda was wide-eyed. Darry looked at the palm of his hand where it had turned red and then looked back at me. His eyes were huge. "Ponyboy..."  
I turned and ran out the door and down the street as fast as I could. Darry screamed, "Pony, I didn't mean to!" but I was at the lot by then and pretended I couldn't hear. I was running away.**

"I would, too, kid", Steve said bitterly. Pony just sighed. When Steve holds a grudge, he holds a LONG grudge. So do I.

**It was plain to me that Darry didn't want me around. And I wouldn't stay if he did. He wasn't ever going to hit me again.**

"No, I won't, but not cuz you ran away. It's cuz I DIDN'T MEAN IT." Darry said remorsefully. I honestly felt kinda bad, but I wasn't about to show it. Pony smiled sweetly, "I know you won't, Dar, I know you would never do that again. This is just what was running through my head at the time."**  
**

**"Johnny?" I called, and started when he rolled over and jumped up almost under my feet. "Come on, Johnny, we're running away."  
Johnny asked no questions. We ran for several blocks until we were out of breath. Then we walked. I was crying by then. I finally just sat down on the curb and cried, burying my face in my arms. Johnny sat down beside me, one hand on my shoulder. "Easy, Ponyboy," he said softly, "we'll be okay."  
I finally calmed down and wiped my eyes on my bare arm. My breath was coming in quivering sobs. "Gotta cigarette?"  
He handed me one and struck a match.  
"Johnny, I'm scared."  
'Well, don't be. You're scarin' me. What happened? I never seen you bawl like that."  
"I don't very often. It was Darry. He hit me. I don't know what happened, but I couldn't take him hollering at me and hitting me too. I don't know... sometimes we get along okay, then all of a sudden he blows up on me or else is naggin' at me all the time. He didn't use to be like that... we used to get along okay... before Mom and Dad died. Now he just can't stand me."**

"Before you say it", Pony interrupted what Darry had opened his mouth to say, "I KNOW." "I know you know", Darry said defensively, "I'm just pointing out that I could never hate any of my brothers." **  
**

**"I think I like it better when the old man's hittin' me." Johnny sighed. "At least then I know he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you got Soda. I ain't got nobody."  
"Shoot," I said, startled out of my misery, "you got the whole gang. Dally didn't slug you tonight 'cause you're the pet. I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang."  
"It ain't the same as having your own folks care about you," Johnny said simply. "It just ain't the same."  
I was beginning to relax and wonder if running away was such a great idea. I was sleepy and freezing to death and I wanted to be home in bed, safe and warm under the covers with Soda's arm across me.**

"You have no idea how much I wished the same that night", Soda said quietly, "I freaked after you ran. I actually yelled at Darry since I was so mad." Pony looked startled, "You did?", and Soda nodded. Darry rolled his eyes and added, "He screamed at me for a solid half hour about how "Pony didn't deserve" that, and "How dare you hit my baby?" and just plain cursed me out." Pony smiled, "Sorry guys." "Wasn't YOUR fault" Soda emphasized. "Soda…" Pony chided gently.

**I decided I would go home and just not speak to Darry. It was my house as much as Darry's, and if he wanted to pretend I wasn't alive, that was just fine with me. He couldn't stop me from living in my own house.  
"Let's walk to the park and back. Then maybe I'll be cooled off enough to go home."  
"Okay," Johnny said easily. "Okay."  
Things gotta get better, I figured. They couldn't get worse. I was wrong.**

"I hate how wrong you were, Pone", I sighed. Steve and Soda nodded their agreement. I dreaded that this next chapter was gonna make chapter three look EASY…

**Review, Comment, or just say hi! Stay Gold, my Greasers!**


	12. Chapter 4, Part 1

**As usual, much thanks for all the support! Here comes the big part of the book! More dialogue just for you guys!**

**Chapter 4, Part 1**

**Pony's POV**

I sat looking around at all my brothers. I knew Steve and Two-Bit were holding a grudge against Dar, but I also knew I couldn't do a thing about it. They would see soon enough…

"Okay, who wants this one?" Soda asked warily. Two-Bit raised his hand like a kid in class, and Soda threw him the book. "Okie dokie", Two-Bit said, starting off…

**Chapter 4**

THE PARK WAS ABOUT two blocks square, with a fountain in the middle and a small swimming pool for the little kids. The pool was empty now in the fall, but the fountain was going merrily. Tall elm trees made the park shadowy and dark, and it would have been a good hangout, but we preferred our vacant lot, and the Shepard outfit liked the alleys down by the tracks, so the park was left to lovers and little kids.

"You know, now that you mention it, the whole Shepards-outfit-hanging-in-alleys is, like, CLASSIC hood behavior", Two-Bit said thoughtfully. "Are you JUST figuring that out?", Steve remarked, and we all laughed at the evil look Two-Bit gave Steve.

**Nobody was around at two-thirty in the morning, and it was a good place to relax and cool off. I couldn't have got ten much cooler without turning into a popsicle. Johnny snapped up his jeans jacket and flipped up the collar.  
"Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?"**

"Well, I'd forget to grab a jacket, too, in Pony's situation..", Steve said, making Dar gulp in guilt.

**"You ain't a'woofin'," I said, rubbing my bare arms between drags on my cigarette. I started to say something about the film of ice developing on the outer edges of the fountain when a sudden blast from a car horn made us both jump. The blue Mustang was circling the park slowly.  
Johnny swore under his breath, and I muttered, "What do they want? This is our territory. What are Socs doing this far east?"  
Johnny shook his head. "I don't know. But I bet they're looking for us. We picked up their girls."  
"Oh, glory," I said with a groan, "this is all I need to top off a perfect night" I took one last drag on my weed and ground the stub under my heel. "Want to run for it?"  
"It's too late now," Johnny said. "Here they come."**

If the room had been tense when we read my first jumping, the room was a freezer now.

**Five Socs were coming straight at us, and from the way they were staggering I figured they were reeling pickled. That scared me. A cool deadly bluff could sometimes shake them off, but not if they outnumbered you five to two and were drunk. Johnny's hand went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade. I wished for that broken bottle. I'd sure show them I could use it if I had to. Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap. We backed against the fountain and the Socs surrounded us. They smelled so heavily of whiskey and English Leather that I almost choked. I wished desperately that Darry and Soda would come along hunting for me. The four of us could handle them easily. But no one was around, and I knew Johnny and I were going to have to fight it out alone. Johnny had a blank, tough look on his face- you'd have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes. I stared at the Socs coolly. Maybe they could scare us to death, but we'd never let them have the satisfaction of knowing it.**

Boy, did I wish I could disappear. I hated reliving all my fear, all Johnny's fear, this night in general. But from the looks on the gang's faces, I needed to stay. Steve and Two-Bit were growling, Soda looked like he was gonna faint, and Dar looked sorrier than I'd ever seen him. **  
**

**It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and they recognized us. I knew Johnny recognized them; he was watching the moonlight glint off Bob's rings with huge eyes.**

"Wait, hold up! Rings…", Steve looked at me as he said this, "Did Johnny kill the one who JUMPED HIM?!" I nodded my head, and everyone looked at me in shock. "No wonder he killed him", Two-Bit started, but I stopped him. "That's not exactly how it happened. You'll see why Johnny killed him."

**"Hey, whatta ya know?" Bob said a little unsteadily, "Here's the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey, greasers."  
"You're outa your territory," Johnny warned in a low voice. "You'd better watch it"  
Randy swore at us and they stepped in closer. Bob was eyeing Johnny. "Nup, pal, yer the ones who'd better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind- dirt."  
I was getting mad. I was hating them enough to lose my head.  
"You know what a greaser is?" Bob asked. "White trash with long hair."**

Everyone said at once, "Damn Socs!" I could see the hatred in my gang's eyes…**  
**

**I felt the blood draining from my face. I've been cussed out and sworn at, but nothing ever hit me like that did. Johnnycake made a kind of gasp and his eyes were smoldering.  
"You know what a Soc is?" I said, my voice shaking with rage. "White trash with Mustangs and madras." And then, because I couldn't think of anything bad enough to call them, I spit at them. Bob shook his head, smiling slowly. "You could use a bath, greaser. And a good working over. And we've got all night to do it. Give the kid a bath, David."**

**I ducked and tried to run for it, but the Soc caught my arm and twisted it behind my back, and shoved my face into the fountain. I fought, but the hand at the back of my neck was strong and I had to hold my breath.**

"WHAT?!" everyone screamed. Soda looked at me, "Pony… What…" I just nodded to the book numbly. **  
**

**I'm dying, I thought, and wondered what was happening to Johnny. I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I fought again desperately but only sucked in water. I'm drowning, I thought, they've gone too far... A red haze filled my mind and I slowly relaxed.**

"NO!" cried the voices of Darry, Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit. "Guys, I'm RIGHT HERE!", I called out, trying to remind them I wasn't actually dead. They were still and silent for a second, then all heck broke loose.

Soda ran to my side and hugged the life outta me, bawling his eyes out, refusing to let me go. Steve started calling the Socs every curse word in the book and a whole bunch that weren't. Two-Bit walked over to me and Soda, looking me over as if to assure himself I really was alright. And Darry, the leader, the Superman, was bawling as hard as Soda, muttering "It's all my fault… I'm so sorry…" over and over again, as he buried his face in my hair and squeezed me as hard as Soda. Between the two of them, I could barely breathe.

I was too stunned to do anything but rub Soda's back with one hand and Dar's with the other, and say, "Wow, I didn't think you would react like THIS." From the looks on my brothers' faces, boy, would I regret saying that.

**I know you guys hate cliffhangers, but being the sadistic little writer I am, I love them! Sorry much! Anyway, I'm thinking, since this is doing so well, I might write a TMNT sister fic. Trust me, it wouldn't be anything like you've ever read, but I need your support! Let me know what you guys think! Review, Comment, or just give me your opinion! Stay Gold, Greasers!**


	13. Chapter 4, Part 2

**OMG, you guys and gals are the greatest! Almost 60 reviews! I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and since I'm so touched, I'll give you this update a day early! (Plus, I have a family thing tomorrow, so I prob won't have the time…) Happy President's Day! **

**Chapter 4, Part 2**

**Soda's POV**

_Oh God, Oh God, Pony, Pony, _was running through my head a mile a minute. All I could do was cling to my beloved baby brother, who came way to close to death for comfort way too many times. Darry was no better than me, crying his eyes out into Pone's hair. Steve was cussing a blue streak, and Two-Bit was dazed, staring Pony down as if unsure that he was alive.

None of us moved until Pony mumbled sheepishly, "Wow, I didn't think you would react like THIS." That stopped us all in our tracks.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve growled. "Yeah, what are you talking about Pone?" Two-Bit asked. "You thought that we WOULDN'T freak out?" Dar asked incredulously. These three stared a guilty looking Pony down, and I moved between them and him, gesturing for the others to let me get through to him. "Pone, we are your BROTHERS. ALL of us. If you had died that night…" I shuddered. "Pony, we love you, we need you, and don't ever think otherwise" I looked Pony in the eyes and sighed at the doubt in them. "But, I'm not strong like Dar, understanding like you, cool like Steve, tough like Dally, funny like Two-Bit, or the pet like Johnny. I just daydream and get into trouble." We all glanced at one another guiltily.

Darry knelt next to our baby and said, "We're sorry if we made you feel that way, Pony, but it ain't true. You're the baby, the smart one, you're the one who's gonna get farthest in life. Don't you see that?", Dar asked as Ponyboy smiled and said, "You all really see me like that?" Everybody nodded.

Pony eyed every one of us before saying, "Well, thanks guys." I hugged my brother tight, determined to protect him from his own feelings of doubt. I loved him, and I was gonna make damn sure he knew it.

"Well, now that that's over", Two-Bit said, "Should we continue?" Everyone looked at Pony, who simply nodded. "Okay…" Two-Bit started where he left off.

**The next thing I knew I was lying on the pavement beside the fountain, coughing water and gasping. I lay there weakly, breathing in air and spitting out water. The wind blasted through my soaked sweat shirt and dripping hair. My teeth chattered unceasingly and I couldn't stop them. I finally pushed myself up and leaned back against the fountain, the water running down my face. Then I saw Johnny.  
He was sitting next to me, one elbow on his knee, and staring straight ahead. He was a strange greenish-white, and his eyes were huger than I'd ever seen them.  
"I killed him," he said slowly. "I killed that boy."  
Bob, the handsome Soc, was lying there in the moon light, doubled up and still. A dark pool was growing from him, spreading slowly over the blue white cement. I looked at Johnny's hand. He was clutching his switchblade, and it was dark to the hilt. My stomach gave a vio lent jump and my blood turned icy.**

Pony shivered, and Dar and I hugged him tighter, which I didn't think was possible. **  
**

**"Johnny," I managed to say, fighting the dizziness, "I think I'm gonna be sick."  
"Go ahead," he said in the same steady voice. "I won't look at you."  
I turned my head and was quietly sick for a minute. Then I leaned back and closed my eyes so I wouldn't see Bob lying there.  
This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be...  
"You really killed him, huh, Johnny?"  
"Yeah." His voice quavered slightly. "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might have killed you. And they had a blade... they were gonna beat me up..."  
"Like..."- I swallowed- "like they did before?"  
Johnny was quiet for a minute. "Yeah," he said, "like they did before."**

"Then Johnny had every right to kill that dirty son of a bitch." Steve snapped and Two-Bit and I nodded. Darry was thoughtful for a minute before slowly saying, "It was definitely self-defense. If Pony had died drowning and they had beaten Johnny up", I shuddered into Pony, who went white, " then Bob would have probably just been fined. Yet they charged Johnny with involuntary manslaughter. That is just sickening to think about."

We all grimaced at that ugly truth. But I couldn't help but believe that if that monster HAD gotten away with killing my baby, I would hunt him down and get my revenge. From the look in Darry's eyes as I glanced at him, I knew he was thinking the same thing. **  
**

**Johnny told me what had happened: "They ran when I stabbed him. They all ran..."  
A panic was rising in me as I listened to Johnny's quiet voice go on and on. "Johnny!" I nearly screamed. "What are we gonna do? They put you in the electric chair for, killing people!" I was shaking. I want a cigarette. I want a cigarette. I want a cigarette. We had smoked our last pack. "I'm scared, Johnny. What are we gonna do?"  
Johnny jumped up and dragged me up by my sweat shirt. He shook me. "Calm down, Ponyboy. Get ahold of yourself."  
I hadn't realized I was screaming. I shook loose. "Okay," I said, "I'm okay now."  
Johnny looked around, slapping his pockets nervously. "We gotta get outa here. Get somewhere. Run away. The police'll be here soon." I was trembling, and it wasn't all from cold. But Johnny, except for the fact that his hands were twitching, looked as cool as Darry ever had. "We'll need money. And maybe a gun. And a plan."  
Money. Maybe a gun? A plan. Where in the world would we get these things?  
"Dally," Johnny said with finality. "Dally'll get us outs here."  
I heaved a sigh. Why hadn't I thought of that? But I never thought of anything. Dallas Winston could do any thing.**

"Could do ANYONE, too", Steve laughed and fist-pumped Two-Bit. Us Curtis boys rolled our eyes. **  
**

**"Where can we find him?"  
"I think at Buck Merril's place. There's a party over there tonight. Dally said somethin' about it this afternoon."  
Buck Merril was Dally's rodeo partner. He was the one who'd got Dally the iob as a jockey for the Slash J. Buck raised a few quarter horses, and made most of his money on fixed races and a little bootlegging. I was under strict orders from both Darry and Soda not to get caught within ten miles of his place, which was dandy with me. I didn't like Buck Merril. He was a tall lanky cowboy with blond hair and buckteeth. Or he used to be bucktoothed before he had the front two knocked out in a fight. He was out of it. He dug Hank Williams- how gross can you get?**

"Amen, Pony", Steve, Two-Bit, and I all high-fived him. **  
**

**Buck answered the door when we knocked, and a roar of cheap music came with him. The clinking of glasses, loud, rough laughter and female giggles, and Hank Williams. It scraped on my raw nerves like sandpaper. A can of beer in one hand, Buck glared down at us. "Whatta ya want?"  
"Dally!" Johnny gulped, looking back over his shoulder. "We gotta see Dally."  
"He's busy," Buck snapped, and someone in his living room yelled "A-ha!" and then "Yee-ha," and the sound of it almost made my nerves snap.  
"Tell him it's Pony and Johnny," I commanded. I knew Buck, and the only way you could get anything from him was to bully him. I guess that's why Dallas could handle him so easily, although Buck was in his mid-twenties and Dally was seventeen. "He'll come."**

"Tells something about a guy in his mid-twenties being bullied by a FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD", Pony smirked and we all laughed in agreement. It was good to see him unwind a bit. **  
**

**Buck glared at me for a second, then stumbled, off. He was pretty well crocked, which made me apprehensive. If Dally was drunk and in a dangerous mood...  
He appeared in a few minutes, clad only in a pair of low-cut blue jeans, scratching the hair on his chest. He was sober enough, and that surprised me. Maybe he hadn't been there long.  
"Okay, kids, whatta ya need me for?"  
As Johnny told him the story, I studied Dally, trying to figure out what there was about this tough-looking hood that a girl like Cherry Valance could love. Towheaded and shifty-eyed, Dally was anything but handsome. Yet in his hard face there was character, pride, and a savage defiance of the world. He could never love Cherry Valance back. It would be a miracle if Dally loved anything. The fight for self-preservation had hardened him beyond caring.  
He didn't bat an eye when Johnny told him what had happened, only grinned and said "Good for you" when Johnny told how he had knifed the Soc.**

"Oh, for God's sakes", Darry snapped in exasperation. "That's Dal for you", I grinned.

**Finally Johnny finished. "We figured you could get us out if anyone could. I'm sorry we got you away from the party."  
"Oh, shoot, kid"- Dally glanced contemptuously over his shoulder- "I was in the bedroom."  
He suddenly stared at me. "Glory, but your ears can get red, Ponyboy."  
I was remembering what usually went on in the bed rooms at Buck's parties. **

Two-Bit and Steve fell on the floor laughing. Pony glared at them, and at me for snickering behind my hands. Darry glared at us in disapproval and said, "You dirty hoods, he SHOULD turn red thinking about that. At least he's an innocent, which is more than can be said for you three." Darry winked at Pony, who was giggling at the look of embarrassment on Steve's, Two-Bit's, and my faces.

**Then Dally grinned in amused realization. "It wasn't anything like that, kid. I was asleep, or tryin' to be, with all this racket. Hank Williams"- he rolled his eyes and added a few adjectives after 'Hank Williams.' "Me and Shepard had a run-in and I cracked some ribs. I just needed a place to lay over." He rubbed his side ruefully. "Ol' Tim sure can pack a punch. He won't be able to see outa one eye for a week." He looked us over and sighed. "Well, wait a sec and I'll see what I can do about this mess." Then he took a good look at me. "Ponyboy, are you wet?"  
"Y-y-yes-s," I stammered through chattering teeth.  
"Glory hallelujah!" He opened the screen door and pulled me in, motioning for Johnny to follow. "You'll die of pneumonia 'fore the cops ever get you."  
He half-dragged me into an empty bedroom, swearing at me all the way. "Get that sweat shirt off." He threw a towel at me. "Dry off and wait here. At least Johnny's got his jeans jacket. You ought to know better than to run away in just a sweat shirt, and a wet one at that. Don't you ever use your head?" He sounded so much like Darry that I stared at him. He didn't notice, and left us sitting on the bed.**

"I'd do more than stare at him if he sounded like Darry", Steve said sourly and Two-Bit nodded in agreement. Dar sighed. Were Steve and Two-Bit gonna let the whole running-Pony-out thing go? Probably not. It took me a few days before I forgave him. **  
**

**Johnny lay back on it. "Wish I had me a weed."  
My knees were shaking as I finished drying off, sitting there in my jeans.  
Dally appeared after a minute. He carefully shut the door. "Here"- he handed us a gun and a roll of bills- "the gun's loaded. For Pete's sake, Johnny, don't point the thing at me. Here's fifty bucks. That's all I could get out of Merril tonight He's blowin' his loot from that last race."  
You might have thought it was Dally who fixed those races for Buck, being a jockey and all, but it wasn't. The last guy to suggest it lost three teeth. It's the truth. Dally rode the ponies honestly and did his best to win. It was the only thing Dally did honestly.  
"Pony, do Darry and Sodapop know about this?"  
I shook my head. Dally sighed. "Boy howdy, I ain't itchin' to be the one to tell Darry and get my head busted."**

"Smart boy. Though I'd do more damage than that for giving two KIDS a GUN." Darry snapped. "It's mainly your fault, you really got room to talk?" Two-Bit threw at him. "Matthews..." Pony and I said, and he backed down.**  
"Then don't tell him," I said. I hated to worry Sodapop, and would have liked to let him know I had gotten this far okay, but I didn't care if Darry worried himself gray-headed. I was too tired to tell myself I was being mean and unreasonable. I convinced myself it wouldn't be fair to make Dally tell him. Darry would beat him to death for giving us the money and the gun and getting us out of town.  
"Here!" Dally handed me a shirt about sixty million sizes too big. "It's Buck's- you an' him ain't exactly the same size, but it's dry." He handed me his worn brown leather jacket with the yellow sheep's-wool lining. "It'll get cold where you're going, but you can't risk being loaded down with blankets."  
I started buttoning up the shirt. It about swallowed me. "Hop the three-fifteen freight to Windrixville," Dally instructed. "There's an old abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain. There's a pump in back so don't worry about water. Buy a week's supply of food as soon as you get there- this morning, before the story gets out, and then don't so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there as soon as I think it's clear. Man, I thought New York was the only place I could get mixed up in a murder rap."  
At the word "murder," Johnny made a small noise in his throat and shuddered.  
Dally walked us back to the door, turning off the porch light before we stepped out. "Git goin'!" He messed up Johnny's hair. "Take care, kid," he said softly.  
"Sure, Dally, thanks." And we ran into the darkness.**

"So Dally is the reason you went to Windrixville, huh?" I asked Pony and he nodded and sighed. "Too bad things only got worse once we got there." The rest of us groaned. And here we thought the trouble was behind us…

**OK, you greasers know to review, comment or let me know if you have suggestions. Oh, and if you want me to do the TMNT sister fic, let me know, I need to know if people are interested or not. Stay Gold!**


	14. Chapter 4, Part 3

**Sorry for the short chapter, lack of reviews got me down. PLEEEEASE read my other fic on my profile and give your opinion! "I need inspiration, not just another negotiation!" (Just saw this film, it's amazing) Thanks to all my greasers.**

**Chapter 4, Part 3**

**Steve's POV**

I rolled my eyes thinking_, WHAT THE HELL did our gang do to deserve all this bad luck? _If Pony was right about things getting worse, we'd all have mental breakdowns. Two-Bit started reading…

**WE CROUCHED IN THE WEEDS beside the railroad tracks, lis tening to the whistle grow louder. The train slowed to a screaming halt. "Now," whispered Johnny. We ran and pulled ourselves into an open boxcar. We pressed against the side, trying to hold our breath while we listened to the railroad workers walk up and down outside. One poked his head inside, and we froze. But he didn't see us, and the boxcar rattled as the train started up.  
"The first stop'll be Windrixville," Johnny said, laying the gun down gingerly. He shook his head. "I don't see why he gave me this. I couldn't shoot anybody."  
Then for the first time, really, I realized what we were in for. Johnny had killed someone. Quiet, soft-spoken little Johnny, who wouldn't hurt a living thing on purpose, had taken a human life. We were really running away, with the police after us for murder and a loaded gun by our side. I wished we'd asked Dally for a pack of cigarettes...**

"Yeah, on the run, in deep trouble, and you want a freaking CIGARETTE", Darry scowled, "I swear, you weed fiend, I'm gonna get you off smoking." "Good luck", Pony answered, unphased. **  
**

**I stretched out and used Johnny's legs for a pillow. Curling up, I was thankful for Dally's jacket. It was too big, but it was warm. Not even the rattling of the train could keep me awake, and I went to sleep in a hoodlum's jacket, with a gun lying next to my hand.**

"Very poetic", Two-Bit smirked.****

I WAS HARDLY AWAKE when Johnny and I leaped off the train into a meadow. Not until I landed in the dew and got a wet shock did I realize what I was doing. Johnny must have woke me up and told me to jump, but I didn't remember it. We lay in the tall weeds and damp grass, breathing heavily. The dawn was coming. It was lightening the sky in the east and a ray of gold touched the hills. The clouds were pink and meadow larks were singing. This is the country, I thought, half asleep. My dream's come true and I'm in the country.

"How cute, two runaway hoods in the country", I grimaced, as did everyone else. Pony shrugged, "Enjoy the few things you can." **  
**

**"Blast it, Ponyboy"- Johnny was rubbing his legs- "you must have put my legs to sleep. I can't even stand up. I barely got off that train."  
"I'm sorry. Why didn't you wake me up?"  
"That's okay. I didn't want to wake you up until I had to."  
"Now how do we find Jay Mountain?" I asked Johnny. I was still groggy with sleep and wanted to sleep forever right there in the dew and the dawn.  
"Go ask someone. The story won't be in the paper yet. Make like a farm boy taking a walk or something."  
"I don't look like a farm boy," I said. I suddenly thought of my long hair, combed back, and the slouching stride I used from habit. I looked at Johnny. He didn't look like any farm boy to me. He still reminded me of a lost puppy who had been kicked too often, but for the first time I saw him as a stranger might see him. He looked hard and tough, because of his black T-shirt and his blue jeans and jacket, and because his hair was heavily greased and so long. I saw how his hair curled behind his ears and I thought: We both need a haircut and some decent clothes. I looked down at my worn, faded blue jeans, my too-big shirt, and Dally's worn-out jacket. They'll know we're hoods the minute they see us, I thought.**

"Ain't that the idea? BEING a hood requires LOOKING like a hood", Two-Bit said. I shook my head at him and replied, "You LOOK like you're five with that Mickey Mouse shirt, but you're a grown man." Two-Bit maturely stuck his tongue out at me. "Mickey forever!", he cried. We all rolled our eyes. **  
**

**"I'll have to stay here," Johnny said, rubbing his legs. "You go down the road and ask the first person you see where Jay Mountain is." He winced at the pain in his legs. "Then come back. And for Pete's sake, run a comb through your hair and quit slouching down like a thug."  
So Johnny had noticed it too. I pulled a comb from my back pocket and combed my hair carefully. "I guess I look okay now, huh, Johnny?"  
He was studying me. "You know, you look an awful lot like Sodapop, the way you've got your hair and everything. I mean, except your eyes are green."  
"They ain't green, they're gray," I said, reddening. "And I look about as much like Soda as you do." I got to my feet. "He's good-looking."  
"Shoot," Johnny said with a grin, "you are, too."**

"Actually", Darry said, looking between his two brothers, "You guys DO look alike." "Suuure, Dar, and the grass is blue and the sky is green." Pony replied, but he muttered a quick sorry when Darry glared at him. **  
**

**I climbed over the barbed-wire fence without saying anything else. I could hear Johnny laughing at me, but I didn't care. I went strolling down the red dirt road, hoping my natural color would come back before I met anyone. I wonder what Darry and Sodapop are doing now, I thought, yawning. Soda had the whole bed to himself for once. I bet Darry's sorry he ever hit me. He'll really get worried when he finds out Johnny and I killed that Soc. Then, for a moment, I pictured Sodapop's face when he heard about it. I wish I was home, I thought absently, I wish I was home and still in bed. Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just dreaming...**

"I wish you had been", Darry and Soda said in unison. I gave Soda a reassuring glance, but ignored Darry. He SHOULD be sorry….

**It was only last night that Dally and I had sat down behind those girls at the Nightly Double. Glory, I thought with a bewildering feeling of being rushed, things are happening too quick. Too fast. I figured I couldn't get into any worse trouble than murder. Johnny and I would be hiding for the rest of our lives. Nobody but Dally would know where we were, and he couldn't tell anyone because he'd get jailed again for giving us that gun. If Johnny got caught, they'd give him the electric chair, and if they caught me, I'd be sent to a reformatory. I'd heard about reformatories from Curly Shepard and I didn't want to go to one at all. So we'd have to be hermits for the rest of our lives, and never see anyone but Dally. Maybe I'd never see Darry or Sodapop again. Or even Two-Bit or Steve. I was in the country, but I knew I wasn't going to like it as much as I'd thought I would. There are things worse than being a greaser.  
I met a sunburned farmer driving a tractor down the road. I waved at him and he stopped.  
"Could you tell me where Jay Mountain is?" I asked as politely as I could.  
He pointed on down the road. "Follow this road to that big hill over there. That's it. Taking a walk?"  
"Yessir." I managed to look sheepish. "We're playing army and I'm supposed to report to headquarters there."  
I can lie so easily that it spooks me sometimes- Soda says it comes from reading so much. But then, Two-Bit lies all the time too, and he never opens a book.**

"Interesting analysis, young Ponyboy", Two-Bit mockingly stroked his chin, "I wonder why that is." "What, why you lie, or why you never pick up a book? Though the book one is pretty obvious…." We all laughed except Two-Bit.

**"Boys will be boys," the farmer said with a grin, and I thought dully that he sounded as corny as Hank Williams. He went on and I walked back to where Johnny was waiting.  
WE CLIMBED UP THE ROAD to the church, although it was a lot farther away than it looked. The road got steeper with every step. I was feeling kind of drunk- I always do when I get too sleepy- and my legs got heavier and heavier. I guess Johnny was sleepier than I was- he had stayed awake on the train to make sure we got off at the right place. It took us about forty-five minutes to get there. We climbed in a back window. It was a small church, real old and spooky and spiderwebby. It gave me the creeps.  
I'd been in church before. I used to go all the time, even after Mom and Dad were gone. Then one Sunday I talked Soda into coming with Johnny and me. He didn't want to come unless Steve did, and Two-Bit decided he might as well come too. Dally was sleeping off a hangover, and Darry was working. When Johnny and I went, we sat in the back, trying to get something out of the sermon and avoiding the people, because we weren't dressed so sharp most of the time. Nobody seemed to mind, and Johnny and I really liked to go. But that day... well, Soda can't sit still long enough to enjoy a movie, much less a sermon. It wasn't long before he and Steve and Two-Bit were throwing paper wads at each other and clowning around, and finally Steve dropped a hymn book with a bang- accidentally, of course. Everyone in the place turned around to look at us, and Johnny and I nearly crawled under the pews. And then Two-Bit waved at them. I hadn't been to church since.**

"So THAT'S why you stopped going to church!", Darry exclaimed as Two-Bit, Soda and I laughed. **  
**

**But this church gave me a kind of creepy feeling. What do you call it? Premonition? I flopped down on the floor- and immediately decided not to do any more flopping. That floor was stone, and hard. Johnny stretched out beside me, resting his head on his arm. I started to say something to him, but I went to sleep before I could get the words out of my mouth. But Johnny didn't notice. He was asleep, too.**

"That ends that Godforsaken chapter", Two-Bit grimaced. We all nodded. I knew we were all thinking about what Pony had said about premonition… and wondered how right he was.

**Review, Comment, or make suggestions! Stay Gold!**


	15. Chapter 5, Part

**I am sooooo sorry guys my teachers have been bombarding us with work. My updates won't be as regular til the end of the quarter, like the end of march. WOW ALMOST 70 REVIEWS! You greasers are officially the BEST! Though I might take down my TMNT story, I will def keep this one goin! **

**Chapter 5**

**Darry POV**

"I'll read next", I offered, seeing how deep in thought everyone was. Besides, I needed to know what my brother had gone through during that week in Windrixville. I could tell Pony didn't blame me, but Steve and Two-Bit, and to tell you the truth even I blamed myself for the whole mess. No matter how much I tried to make up for it, I will never forgive myself. The boys looked at me expectantly, so I began.

I WOKE UP LATE IN the afternoon. For a second I didn't know where I was. You know how it is, when you wake up in a strange place and wonder where in the world you are, until memory comes rushing over you like a wave. I half convinced myself that I had dreamed everything that had happened the night before. I'm really home in bed, I thought. It's late and both Darry and Sodapop are up. Darry's cooking breakfast, and in a minute he and Soda will come in and drag me out of bed and wrestle me down and tickle me until I think I'll die if they don't stop. It's me and Soda's turn to do the dishes after we eat, and then we'll all go outside and play football. Johnny and Two-Bit and I will get Darry on our side, since Johnny and I are so small and Darry's the best player. It'll go like the usual weekend morning. I tried telling myself that while I lay on the cold rock floor, wrapped up in Dally's jacket and listening to the wind rushing through the trees' dry leaves outside.

"You got some imagination, kid", Steve smirked, "I never woulda been able to convince myself everthing was fine when it wasn't." Pony shrugged, "I got a good imagination, but even I'm not that good, I never really believed what I was thinking." **  
**

**Finally I quit pretending and pushed myself up. I was stiff and sore from sleeping on that hard floor, but I had never slept so soundly. I was still groggy. I pushed off Johnny's jeans jacket, which had somehow got thrown across me, and blinked, scratching my head. It was awful quiet, with just the sound of rushing wind in the trees. Suddenly I realized that Johnny wasn't there.  
"Johnny?" I called loudly, and that old wooden church echoed me, onny onny... I looked around wildly, almost panic-stricken, but then caught sight of some crooked lettering written in the dust of the floor. Went to get supplies. Be back soon. J.C.  
I sighed, and went to the pump to get a drink. The water from it was like liquid ice and it tasted funny, but it was water. I splashed some on my face and that woke me up pretty quick. I wiped my face off on Johnny's jacket and sat down on the back steps. The hill the church was on dropped off suddenly about twenty feet from the back door, and you could see for miles and miles. It was like sitting on the top of the world.  
When you haven't got anything to do, you remember things in spite of yourself. I could remember every detail of the whole night, but it had the unreal quality of a dream. It seemed much longer than twenty-four hours since Johnny and I had met Dally at the corner of Pickett and Sutton. Maybe it was. Maybe Johnny had been gone a whole week and I had just slept. Maybe he had already been worked over by the fuzz and was waiting to get the electric chair since he wouldn't tell where I was. Maybe Dally had been killed in a car wreck or something and no one would ever know where I was, and I'd just die up here, alone, and turn into a skeleton. **

Soda went pale and made a funny noise. I shuddered at the slightest possibility that that woulda happened to my baby brother… and it would have been all my fault. Pony placed a hand on each of our shoulders soothingly.

**My over-active imagination was running away with me again. Sweat ran down my face and back, and I was trembling. My head swam, and I leaned back and closed my eyes. I guess it was partly delayed shock. Finally my stomach calmed down and I relaxed a little, hoping that Johnny would remember cigarettes. I was scared, sitting there by myself.  
I heard someone coming up through the dead leaves toward the back of the church, and I ducked inside the door. Then I heard a whistle, long and low, ending in a sudden high note. I knew that whistle well enough. It was used by us and the Shepard gang for "Who's there?" I returned it carefully, then darted out the door so fast that I fell off the steps and sprawled flat under Johnny's nose.  
I propped myself on my elbows and grinned up at him. "Hey, Johnny. Fancy meetin' you here."  
He looked down at me over a big package. "I swear, Ponyboy, you're gettin' to act more like Two-Bit every day."  
I tried unsuccessfully to cock an eyebrow. "Who's acting?" **

"Oh lord, the last thing we need is another TWO-BIT", Steve grimaced as Two-Bit stuck his tongue out at Steve. Pony and Soda laughed while I rolled my eyes.

**I rolled over and sprang up, happy that someone was there. "What'd you get?"  
"Come on inside. Dally told us to stay inside."  
We went in. Johnny dusted off a table with his jacket and started taking things out of the sack and lining them up neatly. "A week's supply of baloney, two loaves of bread, a box of matches..." Johnny went on.  
I got tired of watching him do it all, so I started digging into the sack myself. "Wheee!" I sat down on a dusty chair and stared. "A paperback copy of Gone with the Wind! How'd you know I always wanted one?"  
Johnny reddened. "I remembered you sayin' something about it once. And me and you went to see that movie, 'member? I thought you could maybe read it out loud and help kill time or something."**

"Awww, that's so cute of Johnny. I know how much you wanted to read that book", Soda smiled warmly. "You know", I added, "That was originally gonna be your birthday present from Soda and me." "Thanks, guys", Pony smiled at us. **  
**

**"Gee, thanks." I put the book down reluctantly. I wanted to start it right then. "Peroxide? A deck of cards..." Suddenly I realized something. "Johnny, you ain't thinking of..."  
Johnny sat down and pulled out his knife. "We're gonna cut our hair, and you're gonna bleach yours." He looked at the ground carefully. "They'll have our descriptions in the paper. We can't fit 'em."**

"So THAT'S why you dyed your hair!", Two-Bit shouted as if he'd won the jackpot. "Makes sense", Steve added thoughtfully, "Lord knows you look NOTHING like your description with that hair." "Aww, lay off", Pony snapped. He hated his hair, the poor kid couldn't wait for it to grow back and for the dye to wear off.**  
**

**"Oh, no!" My hand flew to my hair. "No, Johnny, not my hair!"  
It was my pride. It was long and silky, just like Soda's, only a little redder. Our hair was tuff- we didn't have to use much grease on it. Our hair labeled us greasers, too- it was our trademark. The one thing we were proud of. Maybe we couldn't have Corvairs or madras shirts, but we could have hair.  
"We'd have to anyway if we got caught. You know the first thing the judge does is make you get a haircut"  
"I don't see why," I said sourly. "Dally could just as eas ily mug somebody with short hair."  
"I don't know either- it's just a way of trying to break us. They can't really do anything to guys like Curly Shepard or Tim; they've had about everything done to them. And they can't take anything away from them because they don't have anything in the first place. So they cut their hair."  
I looked at Johnny imploringly. Johnny sighed. "I'm gonna cut mine too, and wash the grease out, but I can't bleach it. I'm too dark-skinned to look okay blond. Oh, come on, Ponyboy," he pleaded. "It'll grow back."  
"Okay," I said, wide-eyed. "Get it over with."  
Johnny flipped out the razor-edge of his switch, took hold of my hair, and started sawing on it. I shuddered. "Not too short," I begged. "Johnny, please..."  
Finally it was over with. My hair looked funny, scattered over the floor in tufts. "It's lighter than I thought it was," I said, examining it. "Can I see what I look like now?"  
"No," Johnny said slowly, staring at me. "We gotta bleach it first."  
After I'd sat in the sun for fifteen minutes to dry the bleach, Johnny let me look in the old cracked mirror we'd found in a closet. I did a double take. My hair was even lighter than Sodapop's. I'd never combed it to the side like that. It just didn't look like me. It made me look younger, and scareder, too. Boy howdy, I thought, this really makes me look tuff. I look like a blasted pansy. I was miserable.**

"Pony, you really don't look THAT bad, honey", Soda soothed, hating to hear that Pony was so miserable. Pony rolled his eyes and responded, "Sure, you're just saying that cuz you're my brother." **  
**

**Johnny handed me the knife. He looked scared, too. "Cut the front and thin out the rest. I'll comb it back after I wash it."  
"Johnny," I said tiredly, "you can't wash your hair in that freezing water in this weather. You'll get a cold."  
He only shrugged. "Go ahead and cut it."  
I did the best I could. He went ahead and washed it anyway, using the bar of soap he'd bought. I was glad I had had to run away with him instead of with Two-Bit or Steve or Dally. **

"Ha, so you wouldn't run away with them, but what about me and Sodapop here?", I asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood. Pony blinked and said, "Well, you're both my brothers. I KNOW you'd take good care of me." "I wouldn't abuse you", Two-Bit muttered, causing Steve to nod. I sighed and Pony and Soda glared at them.

**That would be one thing they'd never think of soap. I gave him Dally's jacket to wrap up in, and he sat shivering in the sunlight on the back steps, leaning against the door, combing his hair back. It was the first time I could see that he had eyebrows. He didn't look like Johnny. His forehead was whiter where his bangs had been; it would have been funny if we hadn't been so scared. He was still shivering with cold. "I guess," he said weakly, "I guess we're disguised."  
I leaned back next to him sullenly. "I guess so."  
"Oh, shoot," Johnny said with fake cheerfulness, "it's just hair."  
"Shoot nothing," I snapped. "It took me a long time to get that hair just the way I wanted it. And besides, this just ain't us. It's like being in a Halloween costume we can't get out of."  
"Well, we got to get used to it," Johnny said with finality. "We're in big trouble and it's our looks or us."  
I started eating a candy bar. "I'm still tired," I said. To my surprise, the ground blurred and I felt tears running down my cheeks. I brushed them off hurriedly. Johnny looked as miserable as I felt.  
"I'm sorry I cut your hair off, Ponyboy."  
"Oh, it ain't that;" I said between bites of chocolate. "I mean, not all of it. I'm just a little spooky. I really don't know what's the matter. I'm just mixed up."  
"I know," Johnny said through chattering teeth as we went inside. "Things have been happening so fast..." I put my arm across his shoulders to warm him up.  
"Two-Bit shoulda been in that little one-horse store. Man, we're in the middle of nowhere; the nearest house is two miles away. Things were layin' out wide open, just waitin' for somebody slick like Two-Bit to come and pick 'em up. He coulda walked out with half the store." **

"Really?", Two-Bit smiled excitedly, "Pony, wanna go to Windrixville?" "Never again", Pony, Soda, and I snapped in unison. Soda and I both wrapped a protective arm around our baby brother. We were ganna make damn sure he never had to go through that again.

**He leaned back beside me, and I could feel him trembling. "Good ol' Two-Bit," he said in a quavering voice. He must have been as homesick as I was.**

"Gee, you missed us? I'm touched", Two-Bit sniffed and pretended to wipe a tear away. Pony rolled his eyes, "Yes, I missed you, Steve, and my brothers. What I DIDN'T miss was your mouth." We all laughed, except for Two-Bit.

Unfortunately, Steve decided to say, "Surprised you missed HIM", inclining his head towards me. Pony glared and said, "Will you two lay off Dar already? We GET that you're mad that he hit me, so was I, but he didn't mean it, he's sorry, and hitting me didn't make this whole thing happen!" Two-Bit looked thoughtful for a minute before saying, "Pony, if Darry hadn't hit you, do you really think this still would have happened? Would you have run away if he had just yelled at you? Would you and Johnny stiil have been out when you were?" When Pony didn't answer, Steve said, "No. It wouldn't have."

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	16. Chapter 5, Part 2

**SORRY! I KNOW THIS IS SHORT, BUT I WANTED SOME KIND OF UPDATE! REMEMBER, MORE REVIEWS= QUICKER, LONGER UPDATE! OKAY, HERE YOU ARE!**

**Soda's POV**

As much as I hate to even think like this, I had to admit, Steve was right. If Darry had kept his cool, then Pony wouldn't have run, and he and Johnny wouldn't have been jumped. I mean, I don't blame him, and neither does Pony, but facts are facts.

Pony cleared his throat and said gently, "Darry, would you please continue?" Darry nodded mutely.

**"Remember how he was wisecrackin' last night?" I said. "Last night... just last night we were walkin' Cherry and Marcia over to Two-Bit's. Just last night we were layin' in the lot, lookin' up at the stars and dreaming..."**

"That's what you were doing to get in trouble, SERIOUSLY?" Two-Bit snapped at Pony. Pony ignored him. **  
**

**"Stop it!" Johnny gasped from between clenched teeth. "Shut up about last night! I killed a kid last night. He couldn't of been over seventeen or eighteen, and I killed him. How'd you like to live with that?" He was crying. I held him like Soda had held him the day we found him lying in the lot.**

We all winced. If Johnny had lived, how would he have dealt with that? Would we have been enough to help him? These were haunting questions.

**"I didn't mean to," he finally blurted out, "but they were drownin' you, and I was so scared..." He was quiet for a minute. "There sure is a lot of blood in people."  
He got up suddenly and began pacing back and forth, slapping his pockets.  
"Whatta we gonna do?" I was crying by then. It was getting dark and I was cold and lonesome. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, but the tears came anyway.**

_Oh, Pony_, I thought as I hugged my baby brother tight. Darry looked miserable, and I shot him a reassuring look.

**"This is my fault," Johnny said in a miserable voice. He had stopped crying when I started. "For bringin' a little thirteen-year-old kid along. You ought to go home. You can't get into any trouble. You didn't kill him."  
"No!" I screamed at him. "I'm fourteen! I've been fourteen for a month! And I'm in it as much as you are. I'll stop crying in a minute... I can't help it."  
He slumped down beside me. "I didn't mean it like that, Ponyboy. Don't cry, Pony, we'll be okay. Don't cry..." I leaned against him and bawled until I went to sleep.**

Pony was now crying on my shoulder as I whispered comforting words to him. "Things AREN'T okay", he said miserably, "My two best buddies are dead. And all because I was so stupid…"

"WHAT?!" We all stared at our youngest brother. "Ponyboy Curtis, NONE of this was your fault, you here me?", I said firmly. "It was those damn Socs." The second we were done this book, I would hunt those bastards and take them DOWN for what they did to my baby, Dally, and Johnny.

Pony sniffed and nodded his head at me carefully. I must have looked as murderous as I felt, Pony sounded like he was scared to argue with me. Darry started reading to keep me from leaving at that second, he knew me by now. **  
**

**I woke up late that night. Johnny was resting against the wall and I was asleep on his shoulder. "Johnny?" I yawned. "You awake?" I was warm and sleepy.  
"Yeah," he said quietly.  
"We ain't gonna cry no more, are we?"  
"Nope. We're all cried out now. We're gettin' used to the idea. We're gonna be okay now."  
"That's what I thought," I said drowsily. Then for the first time since Dally and I had sat down behind those girls at the Nightly Double, I relaxed. We could take whatever was coming now.**

Pony just shook his head. ****

THE NEXT FOUR or five days were the longest days I've ever spent in my life. 

"Amen", we all said together. Those had been the WORST days ever, worrying about Johnny and Pony, fighting off Socs, trying to get it out of Dally where the boys were…

**We killed time by reading Gone with the Wind and playing poker. Johnny sure did like that book, although he didn't know anything about the Civil War and even less about plantations, and I had to explain a lot of it to him. It amazed me how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could- I was supposed to be the deep one. Johnny had failed a year in school and never made good grades- he couldn't grasp anything that was shoved at him too fast, and I guess his teachers thought he was just plain dumb. But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them. He was especially stuck on the Southern gentlemen- impressed with their manners and charm.  
"I bet they were cool ol' guys," he said, his eyes glowing, after I had read the part about them riding into sure death because they were gallant. "They remind me of Dally."**

Two-Bit, Steve, and me burst out laughing. Pony glared at us and said, "Keep going, Dar." **  
**

**"Dally?" I said, startled. "Shoot, he ain't got any more manners than I do. And you saw how he treated those girls the other night. Soda's more like them Southern boys."**

"Exactly!", the three of us all screamed. Pony simply looked at Darry. **  
**

**"Yeah... in the manners bit, and the charm, too, I guess," Johnny said slowly, "but one night I saw Dally gettin' picked up by the fuzz, and he kept real cool and calm the whole time. They was gettin' him for breakin' out the windows in the school building, and it was Two-Bit who did that. And Dally knew it. But he just took the sentence without battin' an eye or even denyin' it. That's gallant."**

That stopped us all in our tracks. "I-I-I never knew he did that for me." Two-Bit winced. I rubbed my buddy's arm and looked at the satisfied grin Darry and Pony shared. I smiled. Dally was gallant. **  
**

**That was the first time I realized the extent of Johnny's hero-worship for Dally Winston. Of all of us, Dally was the one I liked least. He didn't have Soda's understanding or dash, or Two-Bit's humor, or even Darry's superman qualities.**

"Hey, where am I?!" Steve demanded as Two-Bit, Dar, and me said, "Thanks, Pony!"

Pony giggled and said, "At least I didn't say I liked YOU least, though that might be a lie…" Steve threw his beer can at Pony, but I caught it and scowled at Steve, who backed down.

**But I realized that these three appealed to me because they were like the heroes in the novels I read. Dally was real. I liked my books and clouds and sunsets. Dally was so real he scared me.**

"You didn't have to be scared, you know, even if Dal had tried to hurt you, I woulda killed him", Darry smirked. "Thanks, Dar", Pony said with the hugest smile in the world. **  
**

**Johnny and I never went to the front of the church. You could see the front from the road, and sometimes farm kids rode their horses by on their way to the store. So we stayed in the very back, usually sitting on the steps and looking across the valley. We could see for miles; see the ribbon of highway and the small dots that were houses and cars. We couldn't watch the sunset, since the back faced east, but I loved to look at the colors of the fields and the soft shadings of the horizon.**

"Oh, you and your sunsets, Pony" Two-Bit smiled as Pony threw a pillow at him. "Johnny loved them, too, you know", he snapped, shocking us all.

"Really?', I asked Pony.

He nodded. "We are reaching my favorite part of this story…"

**OKAY, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT AN UPDATE TOMORROW! **


	17. Chapter 5, Part 3

**80 reviews! You guys and girls RULE! Here's a special update for ya! And again please try to review ot get TMNT fic fans to review my other story. I want that to succeed as well as this one has! **

**Steve's POV**

I was honestly shocked by all the things we were learning from this story. How much of a dick Darry was to Pony, how close Pony was to Johnny, all that stuff.

"Well, since this is your favorite part, how about you read it?" Darry asked Pony gently. Pony grinned, "Thanks", and took the book and picked up where Darry left off…

**One morning I woke up earlier than usual. Johnny and I slept huddled together for warmth- Dally had been right when he said it would get cold where we were going. Being careful not to wake Johnny up, I went to sit on the steps and smoke a cigarette. The dawn was coming then. All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold. There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful.**

"It sounds beautiful, Pony", Soda gasped in awe. We were all struck at how detailed it was, how good Pony was at describing things,…

"As beautiful as a blonde in the moonlight", Two-Bit said wistfully, smiling broadly. We all flung pillows at him, then got up to retrieve some for the next comment he made.

**"Golly"- Johnny's voice beside me made me jump- "that sure was pretty."  
"Yeah." I sighed, wishing I had some paint to do a picture with while the sight was still fresh in my mind.**

Soda smiled and rubbed Pony's arm. His brother really was a sweet kid, and I felt bad for the way I had been so jealous of him. Not that I would ever admit that. **  
**

**"The mist was what was pretty," Johnny said. "All gold and silver."  
"Uhmmmm," I said, trying to blow a smoke ring.  
"Too bad it couldn't stay like that all the time."  
"Nothing gold can stay." I was remembering a poem I'd read once.  
"What?"**

"Nature's first green is gold,  
Her hardest hue to hold.  
Her early leafs a flower;  
But only so an hour.  
Then leaf subsides to leaf.  
So Eden sank to grief,  
So dawn goes down to day.  
Nothing gold can stay."  


"Is that where your whole 'Stay Gold' phrase came from, Pony?" I asked curiously. Pony nodded, "Those were Johnny's last words to me. I've never ever forgotten them, and hopefuuly never will." **  
**

**Johnny was staring at me. "Where'd you learn that? That was what I meant"  
"Robert Frost wrote it. He meant more to it than I'm gettin' though." I was trying to find the meaning the poet had in mind, but it eluded me. "I always remembered it because I never quite got what he meant by it"  
"You know," Johnny said slowly, "I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until you kept reminding me about them. It seems like they were never there before." He thought for a minute. "Your family sure is funny."  
"And what happens to be so funny about it?" I asked stiffly.**

"Yeah?" Soda and Darry piped up defensively.

**Johnny looked at me quickly. "I didn't mean nothing. I meant, well, Soda kinda looks like your mother did, but he acts just exactly like your father. And Darry is the spittin' image of your father, but he ain't wild and laughing all the time like he was. He acts like your mother. And you don't act like either one."**

"You're adopted!" Two-Bit screamed as if he'd just solved the secret to the universe. "You're an idiot", Soda snapped, then turned to Pony, "You're a balanced mix of me and Darry. You're smart and stubborn, like Darry…"

"And you're understanding and off your rocker like Soda", Darry finished. "Gee, thanks, guys" Pony replied.

**"I know," I said. "Well," I said, thinking this over, "you ain't like any of the gang. I mean, I couldn't tell Two-Bit or Steve or even Darry about the sunrise and clouds and stuff. I couldn't even remember that poem around them. I mean, they just don't dig. Just you and Sodapop. And maybe Cherry Valance."**

"Yay!" Soda screamed while the rest of us cried, "Hey!" Pony laughed and said, "Chill, guys. Soda and Johnny are my two best friends, but I love you guys too. Again, you just don't dig sunsets like I do."

We all pouted while Soda smiled smugly. Yet I saw Pony's point. No one understands Pony like Soda, and Johnny was his best buddy. "But what about Cherry?" I asked making Pony blush and Darry and Two-Bit laugh. Pony suddenly started reading again.

**Johnny shrugged. "Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I guess we're different."  
"Shoot," I said, blowing a perfect smoke ring, "maybe they are."  
By the fifth day I was so tired of baloney I nearly got sick every time I looked at it. We had eaten all our candy bars in the first two days. I was dying for a Pepsi. I'm what you might call a Pepsi addict. I drink them like a fiend, and going for five days without one was about to kill me. Johnny promised to get some if we ran out of supplies and had to get some more, but that didn't help me right then. I was smoking a lot more there than I usually did- I guess because it was something to do- although Johnny warned me that I would get sick smoking so much. We were care ful with our cigarettes- if that old church ever caught fire there'd be no stopping it.**

We all groaned. "I WILL get you off cigarettes, Pony, if it's the last thing I do" Darry snapped. "Again, good luck" Pony replied. **  
**

**On the fifth day I had read up to Sherman's siege of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind, owed Johnny a hundred and fifty bucks from poker games, smoked two packs of Camels, and as Johnny had predicted, got sick. I hadn't eaten anything all day; and smoking on an empty stomach doesn't make you feel real great. I curled up in a corner to sleep off the smoke. I was just about asleep when I heard, as if from a great distance, a low long whistle that went off in a sudden high note. I was too sleepy to pay any attention, although Johnny didn't have any reason to be whistling like that. He was sitting on the back steps trying to read Gone with the Wind. I had almost decided that I had dreamed the outside world and there was nothing real but baloney sandwiches and the Civil War and the old church and the mist in the valley. It seemed to me that I had always lived in the church, or maybe lived during the Civil War and had somehow got transplanted. That shows you what a wild imagination I have.**

Two-Bit laughed. "I know I'm a dream come true but honestly, Pony, you and your imagination…" He shook his head. We all rolled our eyes. "More like a nightmare", I pointed out, much to the amusement of everyone who wasn't Two-Bit.

**A toe nudged me in the ribs. "Glory," said a rough but familiar voice, "he looks different with his hair like that."  
I rolled over and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and yawning. Suddenly I blinked.  
"Hey, Dally!"  
"Hey, Ponyboy!" He grinned down at me. "Or should I say Sleeping Beauty?"  
I never thought I'd live to see the day when I would be so glad to see Dally Winston, but right then he meant one thing: contact with the outside world. And it suddenly became real and vital.  
"How's Sodapop? Are the fuzz after us? Is Darry all right? Do the boys know where we are? What..."  
"Hold on, kid," Dally broke in. "I can't answer every thing at once. You two want to go get something to eat first? I skipped breakfast and I'm about starved."  
"You're starved?" Johnny was so indignant he nearly squeaked. I remembered the baloney.  
"Is it safe to go out?" I asked eagerly.  
"Yep." Dally searched his shirt pocket for a cigarette, and finding none, said, "Gotta cancer stick, Johnnycake?"  
Johnny tossed him a whole package.  
"The fuzz won't be lookin' for you around here," Dally said, lighting up. "They think you've lit out for Texas. I've got Buck's T-bird parked down the road a little way. Goshalmighty, boys, ain't you been eatin' anything?"**

Everyone but Pony growled. We miss Dally, but we could never forgive his lying about Pony and Johnny. **  
Johnny looked startled. "Yeah. Whatever gave you the idea we ain't?"  
Dally shook his head. "You're both pale and you've lost weight. After this, get out in the sun more. You look like you've been through the mill."  
I started to say "Look who's talking" but decided it would be safer not to. Dally needed a shave- a stubble of colorless beard covered his jaw- and he looked like he was the one who'd been sleeping in his clothes for a week instead of us; I knew he hadn't seen a barber in months. But it was safer not to get mouthy with Dally Winston.**

"Heck, you had the right to mouth off at Dally, despite the ass whooping you would have received", I smirked. "Again, Dally hurt Pony, I murder Dally", Darry pointed out. I rolled my eyes. **  
**

**"Hey, Ponyboy"- he fumbled with a piece of paper in his back pocket- "I gotta letter for you."  
"A letter? Who from?"  
"The President, of course, stupid. It's from Soda."  
"Sodapop?" I said, bewildered. "But how did he know...?"  
"He came over to Buck's a couple of days ago for something and found that sweat shirt. I told him I didn't know where you were, but he didn't believe me. He gave me this letter and half his pay check to give you. Kid, you ought to see Darry. He's takin' this mighty hard..."**

"Of course I didn't, never believe Dallas Winston" Soda muttered.

Darry shuddered. "How could I have NOT taken it hard? It was my fault my brother and my buddy were gone." "No it wasn't", Pony and Soda snapped. "Yes, it was", Two-Bit and I snapped back. **  
**

**I wasn't listening. I leaned back against the side of the church and read:**

Ponyboy,

Well I guess you got into some trouble, huh? Darry and me nearly went nuts when you ran out like that. Darry is awful sorry he hit you. You know he didn't mean it. And then you and Johnny turned up mising and what with that dead kid in the park and Dally getting hauled into the station, well it scared us something awful. The police came by to question us and we told them as much as we could. I can't believe little old Johnny could kill somebody. I know Dally knows where you are, but you know him. He keeps his trap shut and won't tell me nothing. Darry hasn't got the slightest notion where you're at and it is nearly killing him. I wish you'd come back and turn your selfves in but I guess you can't since Johnny might get hurt. You sure are famous. You got a paragraph in the newspaper even. Take care and say hi to Johnny for us.

Sodapop Curtis

He could improve his spelling, I thought after reading it through three or four times. "How come you got hauled in?" I asked Dally.

"So it wasn't worth publishing", Soda said defensively, "I was just trying to let my baby brother know I missed him and Johnny and that we were worried" Pony chuckled, "Chill, Soda, I know, I actually still have that letter. It meant a lot to me." Soda hugged Pony. "Good" **  
**

**"Shoot, kid"- he grinned wolfishly- "them boys at the station know me by now. I get hauled in for everything that happens in our turf. While I was there I kinda let it slip that y'all were headin' for Texas. So that's where they're lookin'."  
He took a drag on his cigarette and cussed it goodnaturedly for not being a Kool. Johnny listened in admiration. "You sure can cuss good, Dally."  
"Sure can," Dally agreed wholeheartedly, proud of his vocabulary. "But don't you kids get to pickin' up my bad habits."**

"Too late for that" Darry mumbled. "Hey I don't curse!" Pony yelled. "Often" Darry said and the look on his face caused Pony to step down. **  
He gave me a hard rub on the head. "Kid, I swear it don't look like you with your hair all cut off. It used to look tuff. You and Soda had the coolest lookin' hair in town."  
"I know," I said sourly. "I look lousy, but don't rub it in."  
"Do y'all want somethin' to eat or not?"  
Johnny and I leaped up. "You'd better believe it"  
"Gee," Johnny said wistfully, "it sure will be good to get into a car again."  
"Well," Dally drawled, "I'll give you a ride for your money."**

We all groaned. "You didn't crash TOO bad, right?" Soda asked Pony, who as looking at his shoes with tears in his eyes. "We didn't crash period." He said gruffly.

"What is it?" Soda asked, concerned. "You know how we just read my favorite part?", Pony replied, "Well we are reaching one of my least favorite parts…"

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	18. Author's Note 2

**To all my followers and reviewers,**

**Due to the unimaginably thick work load my teachers give, I'll only be able to update once every two weeks. I'm really sorry! I'm proud that this story has gotten stronger, but time ain't on my side! Stay with me! The more reviews, the sooner I'll make time to update**


	19. Chapter 5, Part 4

**Okay, as a birthday present to myself, I'm putting up a big update on Monday. However, here's the end of this chapter so that I can cut to the drama. **

**Two-Bit's POV**

Honestly, I was getting tired of the CONSTANT stream of crap my buddies had to deal with. What did we do to deserve this? I sighed.

"How about I finish the chapter?" Darry suggested. Pony nodded and tossed his brother the book.

**Dally always did like to drive fast, as if he didn't care whether he got where he was going or not, and we came down the red dirt road off Jay Mountain doing eighty-five. I like fast driving and Johnny was crazy about drag races, but we both got a little green around the gills when Dally took a corner on two wheels with the brakes screaming. Maybe it was because we hadn't been in a car for so long.  
We stopped at a Dairy Queen and the first thing I got was a Pepsi. Johnny and I gorged on barbecue sandwiches and banana splits.**

"What does gorge mean?" I asked curiously. Everyone looked at me a split second before they burst out laughing. "What? It's a genuine question!" I snapped.

"It means to eat a lot of very quickly, Two-Bit", Pony gasped between tears as he held his sides. "Oh" I muttered, feeling kinda stupid.

**"Glory," Dallas said, amazed, watching us gulp the stuff down. "You don't need to make like every mouthful's your last. I got plenty of money. Take it easy, I don't want you gettin' sick on me. And I thought I was hungry!"**

"Do you need the definition of gulp, Two-Bit?" Steve asked smugly, making Pony and Soda chuckle. I simply glared at him. **  
**

**Johnny merely ate faster. I didn't slow down until I got a headache.  
"I didn't tell y'all something," Dally said, finishing his third hamburger. "The Socs and us are having all-out war fare all over the city. That kid you killed had plenty of friends and all over town it's Soc against grease. We can't walk alone at all. I started carryin' a heater..."  
"Dally!" I said, frightened. "You kill people with heaters!"**

"You afraid Dally would kill you, Pony?" Soda joked, but Pony nodded. "If he was pissed off, he would." "He wouldn't dare" Darry assured Pony with a grin.

**"Ya kill 'em with switchblades, too, don't ya, kid?" Dally said in a hard voice. Johnny gulped.**

We all scowled. _Low blow, Dallas_, I thought angrily.

**"Don't worry," Dally went on, "it ain't loaded. I ain't aimin' to get picked up for murder. But it sure does help a bluff. Tim Shepard's gang and our outfit are havin' it out with the Socs tomorrow night at the vacant lot. We got hold of the president of one of their social clubs and had a war council. Yeah"- Dally sighed, and I knew he was remembering New York- "just like the good old days. If they win, things go on as usual. If we do, they stay outa our territory but good. Two-Bit got jumped a few days ago. Darry and me came along in time, but he wasn't havin' too much trouble. Two-Bit's a good fighter. Hey, I didn't tell you we got us a spy."**

"Oh yeah!" Pony exclaimed suddenly. "I wanted to ask… Dar, why were you hanging with Dal?"

Darry grimaced, "I was trying to weasel where you were outta him." "Oh", Pony looked shocked.**  
**

**"A spy?" Johnny looked up from his banana split. "Who?"  
'That good-lookin' broad I tried to pick up that night you killed the Soc. The redhead, Cherry what's-her-name."**

"And that concludes chapter…" Darry was interrupted by the door swinging open. We all tensed…

Then stared as Curly Shepard dashed into the room.

**TEE-HEE! Didn't see THAT coming, huh? More reviews will get you a longer faster update! Not that I have to tell you amazing Greaser readers that! Stay Gold! **


	20. Chapter 6, Part 1

**OK soooo sorry I had the worst birthday in history and was unable to keep to my plan. But with that in mind… WE HIT 100 REVIEWS! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE ALL YOU GUYS AND GURLS! Here's an amazing update for amazing people!**

**Chapter 6**

**Pony's POV**

I watched as my buddy Curly ran into the room. I smiled, "Hey, Curls, what's up?"

He smirked, "Sup, Pony, I kinda need your help. I may have jumped a Soc and the cops are after me." **  
**We all rolled our eyes. Only a Shepard.

"You can chill here, we're reading Pony's novel." Soda said. "Oh, you mean the one about him and Cade killing that Soc? Cool!" I smirked at my buddy; ever since Johnny died, I had gotten extra close to Curly. I told him about my novel and he actually congratulated me.

"So, who wants Chapter 6?" Darry asked as Curly sat next to Steve on the floor. Soda raised his hand, and said, "I call dibs!" Darry smiled and threw Soda the book, which he began to read.

**JOHNNY GAGGED AND I almost dropped my hot fudge sundae. "Cherry?" we both said at the same time. "The Soc?"  
"Yeah," Dally said. "She came over to the vacant lot the night Two-Bit was jumped. Shepard and some of his outfit and us were hanging around there when she drives up in her little ol' Sting Ray. That took a lot of nerve. Some of us was for jumping her then and there, her bein' the dead kid's girl and all, but Two-Bit stopped us. Man, next time I want a broad I'll pick up my own kind."**

"Thanks, Two-Bit" I said, relieved that Cherry hadn't been jumped. She didn't deserve it. Two-Bit smiled.**  
**

**"Yeah," Johnny said slowly, and I wondered if, like me, he was remembering another voice, also tough and just deepened into manhood, saying: "Next time you want a broad, pick up your own kind..." It gave me the creeps.  
Dally was going on: "She said she felt that the whole mess was her fault, which it is, and that she'd keep up with what was comin' off with the Socs in the rumble and would testify that the Socs were drunk and looking for a fight and that you fought back in self-defense." He gave a grim laugh. "That little gal sure does hate me. I offered to take her over to The Dingo for a Coke and she said 'No, thank you' and told me where I could go in very polite terms."**

I sighed. "It wasn't Cherry's fault." Steve, Soda, and Two-Bit all laughed, and I glared at them. **  
**

**She was afraid of loving you, I thought. So Cherry Valance, the cheerleader, Bob's girl, the Soc, was trying to help us. No, it wasn't Cherry the Soc who was helping us, it was Cherry the dreamer who watched sunsets and couldn't stand fights. It was hard to believe a Soc would help us, even a Soc that dug sunsets. Dally didn't notice. He had forgotten about it already.**

"Man, I still can't believe that little Soc could love Dally." Steve said. Curls chuckled, "Dally would never love her back. He didn't love anything or anyone other than Johnnycakes." We all nodded our agreement. **  
**

**"Man, this place is out of it. What do they do for kicks around here, play checkers?" Dally surveyed the scene without interest. "I ain't never been in the country before. Have you two?"  
Johnny shook his head but I said, "Dad used to take us all huntin'. I've been in the country before. How'd you know about the church?"  
"I got a cousin that lives around here somewheres. Tipped me off that it'd make a tuff hide-out in case of something. Hey, Ponyboy, I heard you was the best shot in the family."  
"Yeah," I said. "Darry always got the most ducks, though. Him and Dad. Soda and I goofed around too much, scared most of our game away." I couldn't tell Dally that I hated to shoot things. He'd think I was soft.**

Of course, Curly, Steve, and Two-Bit burst out laughing. Soda and Darry glared daggers at them, and I looked at my feet, my ears feeling hot from embarrassment.

Soda rubbed my hair, "It's just cuz you're gold, Pony. Like Johnny said, you're innocent unlike these guys", he flashed an annoyed glare at the others, who calmed down and sat down.**  
**

**"That was a good idea, I mean cuttin' your hair and bleachin' it. They printed your descriptions in the paper but you sure wouldn't fit 'em now."  
Johnny had been quietly finishing his fifth barbecue sandwich, but now he announced: 'We're goin' back and turn ourselves in."**

"Thank God!" Darry, Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit all screamed at once. Curly and I gave each other the I-don't-know look. Soda smiled, "You have no idea how glad we are to hear Johnny say that." **  
**

**It was Dally's turn to gag. Then he swore awhile. Then he turned to Johnny and demanded: "What?"  
"I said we're goin' back and turn ourselves in," Johnny repeated in a quiet voice. I was surprised but not shocked. I had thought about turning ourselves in lots of times, but apparently the whole idea was a jolt to Dallas.  
"I got a good chance of bein' let off easy," Johnny said desperately, and I didn't know if it was Dally he was trying to convince or himself. "I ain't got no record with the fuzz and it was self-defense. Ponyboy and Cherry can testify to that. And I don't aim to stay in that church all my life."**

"Well, I should hope not, Johnnycakes!" Two-Bit said seriously. "We would have hunted you two down eventually, though." Darry nodded his head, "That's right, we would have looked the earth over to find our little brothers."

Curly rolled his eyes, "You are the sappiest greasers ever." I laughed, we probably were.**  
**

**That was quite a speech for Johnny. His big black eyes grew bigger than ever at the thought of going to the police station, for Johnny had a deathly fear of cops, but he went on: "We won't tell that you helped us, Dally, and we'll give you back the gun and what's left of the money and say we hitchhiked back so you won't get into trouble. Okay?"**

"Oh, that wouldn't have saved him from US" Soda growled, "I'd get it out of Pony, then I'd beat the shit outta Dally for sending Johnny and my baby away from us."

Pony moaned, "Soda, I'm not a baby. And I wouldn't have told you." Soda glared, "Yes, you would have. And you're MY baby."**  
**

**Dally was chewing the corner of his ID card, which gave his age as twenty-one so he could buy liquor. "You sure you want to go back? Us greasers get it worse than anyone else."  
Johnny nodded. "I'm sure. It ain't fair for Ponyboy to have to stay up in that church with Darry and Soda worryin' about him all the time. I don't guess..."- he swallowed and tried not to look eager- "I don't guess my parents are worried about me or anything?"**

We all froze at the mention of Johnny's so-called parents. **  
"The boys are worried," Dally said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Two-Bit was going to Texas to hunt for you."**

"Two-Bit, why didn't you tell us? Soda and me were gonna do the same thing!" Steve fist-pumped Two-Bit with a grin. "You coulda tagged along."

"How EXACTLY were you guys getting to Texas?" I asked, and Soda said, "Driving Darry's truck at 120 miles per hour, that's how, Pony. And Darry wouldn't have minded." "Not at all", Darry smiled. **  
**

**"My parents," Johnny repeated doggedly, "did they ask about me?"  
"No," snapped Dally, "they didn't. Blast it, Johnny, what do they matter? Shoot, my old man don't give a hang whether I'm in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don't bother me none."  
Johnny didn't say anything. But he stared at the dashboard with such hurt bewilderment that I could have bawled.**

Everyone sighed, even Curly. Johnny cared, even if his folks didn't. **  
Dally cussed under his breath and nearly tore out the transmission of the T-bird as we roared out of the Dairy Queen. I felt sorry for Dally. He meant it when he said he didn't care about his parents. But he and the rest of the gang knew Johnny cared and did everything they could to make it up to him. I don't know what it was about Johnny- maybe that lost puppy look and those big scared eyes were what made everyone his big brother. But they couldn't, no matter how hard they tried, take the place of his parents.**

"We tried so hard…" Two-Bit whispered, "But Pony's right."

Steve nodded, his eyes blazing. Soda and Darry each placed an arm around me, knowing that, even with our parents gone, at least we had each other.

**I thought about it for a minute- Darry and Sodapop were my bothers and I loved both of them, even if Darry did scare me; but not even Soda could take Mom and Dad's place.**

Soda stroked my hair as I sobbed. "Oh, honey, I know it hurts, but Darry and I will ALWAYS be with you, no matter what." Darry added, "Yeah, little buddy, that's the reason we've worked so hard to stay together. We're all we've got left, but if we have each other, we can make it." I nodded as I hugged my big brothers.

Soda smirked, "By the way, we're your big BOTHERS?" I shrugged, "You bother the hell outta me." Curls, Steve, and Two-Bit chuckled. Soda grimaced, and Darry rolled his eyes.

"You know you got us, too, right, Pony?" Two-Bit asked quietly, while Steve nodded silently next to him. I smiled sweetly, "Yeah, guys, the next sentence explains what I mean."

**And they were my real brothers, not just sort of adopted ones.**

"Adopted or not, we're your brothers, too" Steve said. Soda bounced up and hugged him. I hugged Two-Bit. Darry just said, "How did I end up with four crazy brothers like you guys?" "Luck" all four of us replied, tackling our leader. When we had stopped laughing and settled down, I noticed Curly looking… jealous?

"Hey, you okay, Curls?' I asked, and he said, "Wish Angela and Tim were as close to me as Darry and Soda are to you." I hugged Curls, who looked completely bewildered. He laughed and said, "Okay, we get it, Pony." But when I looked at him, he was glowing.

**No wonder Johnny was hurt because his parents didn't want him. Dally could take it- Dally was of the breed that could take anything, because he was hard and tough, and when he wasn't, he could turn hard and tough. Johnny was a good fighter and could play it cool, but he was sensitive and that isn't a good way to be when you're a greaser.  
**I sighed. "No, it's not. Especially considering what happens next."

**More reviews= faster update! Thanks again for being so awesome! Stay Gold! **


	21. Chapter 6, Part 2

**110 reviews… FRIGGIN SWEET! I just couldn't leave you hanging, especially not on Easter. Okay, here's the moment you've all been waiting for… the fire! **

**Soda's POV**

I smiled hugely as I watched all my buddies, all my BROTHERS, sitting around, relaxing and laughing. Reading Pony's novel was not only helping him, but bringing us all closer together.

If only Dally and Johnny were here…

I started reading again, hoping that we could handle whatever came next.

**"Blast it, Johnny," Dally growled as we flew along the red road, "why didn't you think of turning yourself in five days ago? It would have saved a lot of trouble."  
"I was scared," Johnny said with conviction. "I still am." He ran his finger down one of his short black sideburns. "I guess we ruined our hair for nothing, Ponyboy."  
"I guess so." I was glad we were going back. I was sick of that church. I didn't care if I was bald.**

Steve chuckled, "You think I tease you NOW? If you were bald, it would only be WORSE." Pony grimaced; he knew it was true. I, on the other hand, wouldn't have cared, as long as Pony was safe at home with me. Besides, he had me to beat the shit outa Steve for him whenever Steve crossed the line.**  
**

**Dally was scowling, and from long and painful experience I knew better than to talk to him when his eyes were blazing like that. I'd likely as not get clobbered over the head.**

"Pony, did Dally ever beat you?" Darry asked, noticing 'the long and painful experience part'. Pony shrugged, "Just once. He was pissed, I was bugging…" "And if he were still alive today, he'd be a dead man" I finished curtly. Dally was sooo lucky Dar and me were only finding out this stuff now; no one messes with our baby brother, not even Dallas Winston.

**That had happened before, just as it had happened to all the gang at one time or another. We rarely fought among ourselves- Darry was the unofficial leader, since he kept his head best, Soda and Steve had been best friends since grade school and never fought, and Two-Bit was just too lazy to argue with anyone. Johnny kept his mouth shut too much to get into arguments, and nobody ever fought with Johnny.**

"Of course not, and that's BECAUSE of Dally" Two-Bit grinned. Pony smirked, "What, no remark about how lazy you are?" Two-Bit just shrugged; I guess even he couldn't deny it.

**I kept my mouth shut; too. But Dally was a different matter. If something beefed him, he didn't keep quiet about it, and if you rubbed him the wrong way- look out. Not even Darry wanted to tangle with him. He was dangerous.**

Darry looked defensive, "Just cuz I didn't WANT to tangle with him doesn't mean I COULDN'T have taken him." We all rolled our eyes and threw pillows at Superman. **  
**

**Johnny just sat there and stared at his feet. He hated for any one of us to be mad at him. He looked awful sad. Dally glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. I looked out the window.  
"Johnny," Dally said in a pleading, high voice, using a tone I had never heard from him before, "Johnny, I ain't mad at you. I just don't want you to get hurt. You don't know what a few months in jail can do to you. Oh, blast it, Johnny"- he pushed his white-blond hair back out of his eyes- "you get hardened in jail. I don't want that to hap pen to you. Like it happened to me..."**

Everyone but Pony stared at the book. Curly said, "Wow, Dal. Just, wow." We all nodded our heads in agreement. WOW was the only word to describe hearing Dally talk like that. **  
**

**I kept staring out the window at the rapidly passing scenery, but I felt my eyes getting round. Dally never talked like that. Never. Dally didn't give a Yankee dime about anyone but himself, and he was cold and hard and mean. He never talked about his past or being in jail that way- if he talked about it at all, it was to brag. And I suddenly thought of Dally... in jail at the age of ten... Dally growing up in the streets...  
"Would you rather have me living in hide-outs for the rest of my life, always on the run?" Johnny asked seriously.  
If Dally had said yes, Johnny would have gone back to the church without hesitation. He figured Dally knew more than he did, and Dally's word was law. But he never heard Dally's answer, for we had reached the top of Jay Mountain and Dally suddenly slammed on the brakes and stared. "Oh, glory!" he whispered. The church was on fire!**

Everyone tensed something fierce. I made a small noise in the back of my throat. No, this was when Johnny gets burned… how he dies… I hugged Pony as I read.**  
**

**"Let's go see what the deal is," I said, hopping out.  
"What for?" Dally sounded irritated. "Get back in here before I beat your head in."**

_Yes, PLEASE go back_, I thought anxiously. From the gang's growls, I guess they thought the same thing. **  
I knew Dally would have to park the car and catch me before he could carry out his threat, and Johnny was already out and following me, so I figured I was safe. We could hear him cussing us out, but he wasn't mad enough to come after us. There was a crowd at the front of the church, mostly little kids, and I wondered how they'd gotten there so quickly. I tapped the nearest grownup. "What's going on?"  
"Well, we don't know for sure," the man said with a good-natured grin. "We were having a school picnic up here and the first thing we knew, the place is burning up. Thank goodness this is a wet season and the old thing is worthless anyway." Then, to the kids, he shouted, "Stand back, children. The firemen will be coming soon."**

Curls scoffed, "What stupid kid would WILLINGLY go into a fire?" Pony looked at his shoes, and I automatically felt my blood run cold. **  
**

**"I bet we started it," I said to Johnny. "We must have dropped a lighted cigarette or something."  
About that time a lady came running up. "Jerry, some of the kids are missing."  
"They're probably around here somewhere. You can't tell with all this excitement where they might be."  
"No." She shook her head. "They've been missing for at least a half an hour. I thought they were climbing the hill..."  
Then we all froze. Faintly, just faintly, you could hear someone yelling. And it sounded like it was coming from inside the church.  
The woman went white. "I told them not to play in the church... I told them..." She looked like she was going to start screaming, so Jerry shook her.  
"I'll get them, don't worry!" I started at a dead run for the church, and the man caught my arm. "I'll get them. You kids stay out!"**

"Yes, PONYBOY, stay out!" Darry screamed. Pony just sighed. My grip on him tightened slightly. **  
I jerked loose and ran on. All I could think was: We started it. We started it. We started it!**

"Pony, how STUPID are you?" Curly snapped, "You ARE aware you coulda DIED, right?" Pony glared at him, saying, "I felt like it was my fault, and I didn't want little kids to die because of me." We all looked at Pony. "How do you figure it that, Pone?" Two-Bit asked, and Pony replied, "I was the one smoking most of the time. And Johnny wasn't careless like I am, so it had to have been me." **  
I wasn't about to go through that flaming door, so I slammed a big rock through a window and pulled myself in. It was a wonder I didn't cut myself to death, now that I think about it.**

"Or a blessing", I murmured. I'll admit, I was terrified to find out what my brothers had gone through.**  
"Hey, Ponyboy."  
I looked around, startled. I hadn't realized Johnny had been right behind me all the way. I took a deep breath, and started coughing. The smoke filled my eyes and they started watering. "Is that guy coming?"  
Johnny shook his head. "The window stopped him."  
"Too scared?"  
"Naw..." Johnny gave me a grin. "Too fat"  
I couldn't laugh because I was scared I'd drown in the smoke. The roar and crackling was getting louder, and Johnny shouted the next question.  
"Where's the kids?"  
"In the back, I guess," I hollered, and we started stumbling through the church. I should be scared, I thought with an odd detached feeling, but I'm not. The cinders and embers began falling on us, stinging and smarting like ants. Suddenly, in the red glow and the haze, I remembered wondering what it was like in a burning ember, and I thought: Now I know, it's a red hell. Why aren't I scared?**

"Why weren't you?" Steve asked as everyone gave Pony an incredulous look. He rolled his eyes, "Keep reading, Soda." I was scared to, but I did. **  
**

**We pushed open the door to the back room and found four or five little kids, about eight years old or younger, huddled in a corner. One was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled, "Shut up! We're goin' to get you out!" The kid looked surprised and quit hollering. **

Two-Bit whistled, "Go, Johnny!" The rest of us were too wrapped up in the story to really notice, though.

**I blinked myself - Johnny wasn't behaving at all like his old self. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then pushed open the window and tossed out the nearest kid. I caught one quick look at his face; it was red marked from falling embers and sweat streaked, but he grinned at me. He wasn't scared either. That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes. He looked like he was having the time of his life.**

"Oh, Johnnycakes" Steve whispered wistfully. We all smiled. It would have been nice to see Johnny that happy, because he certainly never was before or after that. **  
I picked up a kid, and he promptly bit me, but I leaned out, the window and dropped him as gently as I could, being in a hurry like that. A crowd was there by that time. Dally was standing there, and when he saw me he screamed, "For Pete's sake, get outa there! That roofs gonna cave in any minute. Forget those blasted kids!"**

I whimpered, Steve, Curly, and Two-Bit growled, and Darry snarled. "For once you should have listened to Dally." Darry glared at Pony, who just said, "Would YOU like to have those kids' deaths on your hands?" We all froze; truth was Pony was right. As much as we hated it, it was true.**  
**

**I didn't pay any attention, although pieces of the old roof were crashing down too close for comfort. I snatched up another kid, hoping he didn't bite, and dropped him with out waiting to see if he landed okay or not. I was coughing so hard I could hardly stand up, and I wished I had time to take off Dally's jacket. It was hot. We dropped the last of the kids out as the front of the church started to crumble. Johnny shoved me toward the window. "Get out!"**

_Thanks, Johnnycakes_, I thought silently, glancing at my beloved baby brother that I almost lost. AGAIN.**  
I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me. I staggered, almost falling, coughing and sobbing for breath. Then I heard Johnny scream, and as I turned to go back for him, Dally swore at me and clubbed me across the back as hard as he could, and I went down into a peaceful darkness. **

"Pony, Johnny!" we all screamed fearfully. "Well, I'M here." Pony said bitterly. Tears fell down his face as he said, "But I couldn't save Johnny." My poor baby brother began to sob. I held him close, whispering, "I'm here, Pony. It's okay, we got you, honey. It wasn't your fault."

Darry rubbed Pony's hair, "Is this why you've been acting so strange, Pony?" Pony nodded and gasped, "I-I-I just feel li-ike it's all my-y fault." Steve, Two-Bit, Darry, and I all looked at each other in comprehending horror. All this time… and we hadn't noticed the guilt he bared…

Steve sighed, "Kid, you know that Johnny didn't die because of you. He went into that church, knowing what he was getting himself into. He, like you, wanted to save those kids, and as you said, he had the time of his life. You can't regret that."

Two-Bit nodded, "You were his best friend, Pony. You could have never done something to hurt him, and, despite everything, and as much as we miss him, Johnny's death freed him. YOU freed him, Ponyboy."

Pony sat silent for a minute. "I guess… I know you're right. I mean, after everything he went through, saving those kids… saved him, in a way." My brother actually smiled a real, Ponyboy smile, the first since Johnny died.

We all breathed a sigh of relief. I hugged Pony tight, saying, "If I'm right, and I usually am when it comes to you, Pony" Pony punched my arm playfully, but didn't deny it, "The next part is my personal favorite."

Pony smiled, "Indeed, it is, Soda. But if Curls thinks we're sappy NOW…" He trailed off as Curly, Steve, and Two-Bit shared a confused look, and Dar, Pony, and I shared a knowing look.

**Well, my inspirational greasers, you know what to do if you want the next heart filled update! Happy Easter! Stay Gold! **


	22. Chapter 6, Part 3

**Okay, here's the sappiest chapter yet, but ehhh, it deserves it. I dedicate this chapter to Stephy411, who hounded me to write this. Now, leave me the hell alone, girl.**

**Darry's POV**

I knew that, at this point, there was nothing here I couldn't handle. That might be because I knew what happened next. Soda seemed more relaxed as he began reading.

**WHEN I CAME TO, I was being bounced around, and I ached and smarted, and wondered dimly where I was. I tried to think but there was a high-pitched screaming going on, and I couldn't tell whether it was inside my head or out. Then I realized it was a siren. The fuzz, I thought dully. The cops have come for us. I tried to swallow a groan and wished wildly for Soda.**

"Oh, Pony", Soda sighed. Poor Soda hated hearing anything involving his baby brother being in pain. So do I. Pony smiled sympathetically at us.

**Someone with a cold wet rag was gently sponging off my face, and a voice said, "I think he's coming around."  
I opened my eyes. It was dark. I'm moving, I thought. Are they taking me to jail?**

We all look startled. Two-Bit asked, "Why would you be going to jail, Pone?" Pony looked startled, "Uh, maybe because I was considered a MURDER ACCOMPLICE by the fuzz?" Oh, right. We all forgot about that part; we cared more about him being alright. **  
**

**"Where...?" I said hoarsely, not able to get anything else out of my mouth. My throat was sore. I blinked at the stranger sitting beside me. But he wasn't a stranger... I'd seen him before...  
"Take it easy, kid. You're in an ambulance."  
"Where's Johnny?" I cried, frightened at being in this car with strangers. "And Dallas?"**

I winced. I would have given anything to have been there to comfort him… by the look on Soda's face, so would he. **  
**

**"They're in the other ambulance, right behind us. Just calm down. You're going to be okay. You just passed out"  
"I didn't either," I said in the bored, tough voice we reserved for strangers and cops. "Dallas hit me. How come?"  
"Because your back was in flames, that's why."  
I was surprised. "It was? Golly, I didn't feel it. It don't hurt."  
"We put it out before you got burned. That jacket saved you from a bad burning, maybe saved your life. You just keeled over from smoke inhalation and a little shock- of course, that slap on the back didn't help much."**

Steve smirked, "So, Dally really WAS a hero. Or, at least, his jacket is." Curls laughed, "Kinda hard to believe, but yeah." Pony smiled at his buddies.**  
**

**I remembered who he was then- Jerry somebody-or-other who was too heavy to get in the window. He must be a school teacher, I thought. "Are you taking us to the police station?" I was still a little mixed up as to what was coming off.  
"The police station?" It was his turn to be surprised. "What would we want to take you to the police station for? We're taking all three of you to the hospital."  
I let his first remark slide by. "Are Johnny and Dally all right?"  
"Which one's which?"  
"Johnny has black hair. Dally's the mean-looking one."**

We all burst out laughing. "THAT'S your description of Dally?" Curly gasped between laughs. Pony went red, "Hey, I was still mixed up. I was just thinking about how he always looked. Mean." **  
**

**He studied his wedding ring. Maybe he's thinking about his wife, I thought. I wished he'd say something.  
"We think the towheaded kid is going to be all right. He burned one arm pretty badly, though, trying to drag the other kid out the window. Johnny, well, I don't know about him. A piece of timber caught him across the back- he might have a broken back, and he was burned pretty severely. He passed out before he got out the window. They're giving him plasma now." He must have seen the look on my face because he hurriedly changed the sub ject. "I swear, you three are the bravest kids I've seen in a long time. First you and the black haired kid climbing in that window, and then the tough-looking kid going back in to save him. Mrs. O'Briant and I think you were sent straight from heaven. Or are you just professional heroes or something?"**

Again, we all laughed. Johnny, Dally, and Pony… as ANGELS? Heroes, maybe, but seriously. Pony's mouth switched into a smile, "Yeah, yeah, I know." Soda hugged Pony, "You ARE a hero, but an angel? I love you, baby, but NO." **  
**

**Sent from heaven? Had he gotten a good look at Dallas? "No, we're greasers," I said. I was too worried and scared to appreciate the fact that he was trying to be funny.  
"You're what?"  
"Greasers. You know, like hoods, JD's. Johnny is wanted for murder, and Dallas has a record with the fuzz a mile long."  
"Are you kidding me?" Jerry stared at me as if he thought I was still in shock or something.  
"I am not. Take me to town and you'll find out pretty quick."  
"We're taking you to a hospital there anyway. The address card in your billfold said that was where you lived. Your name's really Ponyboy?"**

Soda and Two-Bit shouted, "Yes!" as Steve and me grinned. The boys were coming home! Pony rolled his eyes, and Curly looked confused. "It's a gang thing", Pony explained. **  
**

**"Yeah. Even on my birth certificate. And don't bug me about it. Are..."- I felt weak- "are the little kids okay?"  
"Just fine. A little frightened maybe. There were some short explosions right after you all got out. Sounded just exactly like gunfire."  
Gunfire. There went our gun. And Gone with the Wind. Were we sent from heaven? I started to laugh weakly. I guess that guy knew how close to hysterics I really was, for he talked to me in a low soothing voice all the way to the hospital.**

I WAS SITTING in the waiting room, waiting to hear how Dally and Johnny were. I had been checked over, and except for a few burns and a big bruise across my back, I was all right. I had watched them bring Dally and Johnny in on stretchers. Dally's eyes were closed, but when I spoke he had tried to grin and had told me that if I ever did a stu pid thing like that again he'd beat the tar out of me. He was still swearing at me when they took him on in.

"That's Dally for you", Curly said, and no one disagreed. I smiled at the fact that Pony, at least, came home basically unharmed.

**Johnny was unconscious. I had been afraid to look at him, but I was relieved to see that his face wasn't burned. He just looked very pale and still and sort of sick. I would have cried at the sight of him so still except I couldn't in front of people.  
Jerry Wood had stayed with me all the time. He kept thanking me for getting the kids out. He didn't seem to mind our being hoods.**

"Gee, wonder why?" Steve said sarcastically, earning himself a pillow from Pony's direction.

**I told him the whole story- start ing when Dallas and Johnny and I had met at the corner of Pickett and Sutton. I left out the part about the gun and our hitching a ride in the freight car.**

"He'd mind y'all bein hoods then." Two-Bit smirked, He, too, got a pillow to the stomach from Pony.

**He was real nice about it and said that being heroes would help get us out of trouble, especially since it was self-defense and all.  
I was sitting there, smoking a cigarette, when Jerry came back in from making a phone call. He stared at me for a second. "You shouldn't be smoking."  
I was startled. "How come?"**

"You want your list in alphabetical order or most important reasons?" I asked curtly. Pony was outta pillows, but Soda covered him by throwing a newspaper at me.

**I looked at my cigarette. It looked okay to me. I looked around for a "No Smoking" sign and couldn't find one. "How come?"  
"Why, uh," Jerry stammered, "uh, you're too young."  
"I am?" I had never thought about it. Everyone in our neighborhood, even the girls, smoked. Except for Darry, who was too proud of his athletic health to risk a cigarette, we had all started smoking at an early age.**

"Damn straight." I smiled proudly. How else could I play football and roof houses?

**Johnny had been smoking since he was nine; Steve started at eleven. So no one thought it unusual when I started. I was the weed-fiend in my family- Soda smokes only to steady his nerves or when he wants to look tough.**

"Shoot", Soda said, "I look tough as hell even without one." Soda got hit with three pillows, the TV remote, and a newspaper. **  
**

**Jerry simply sighed, then grinned. "There are some people here to see you. Claim to be your brothers or some thing."**

"We don't claim to be, we ARE his brothers", I sniffed indignantly. Honestly, I know what was what at that point, but still. **  
I leaped up and ran for the door, but it was already open and Soda had me in a bear hug and was swinging me around. I was so glad to see him I could have bawled. Finally he set me down and looked at me. He pushed my hair back. "Oh, Ponyboy, your hair... your tuff, tuff hair..."**

"More like 'Oh Ponyboy, your hair… your blond, pussy hair…'" Two-Bit chuckled and Steve and Curls started laughing, causing us three Curtis brothers to glare daggers at them. "Hey, I had just gotten my baby back!" Soda snapped, "Lay off!" **  
**

**Then I saw Darry. He was leaning in the doorway, wearing his olive jeans and black T-shirt. He was still tall, broad-shouldered Darry; but his fists were jammed in his pockets and his eyes were pleading. I simply looked at him. He swallowed and said in a husky voice, "Ponyboy..."**

The look on Steve's face made us groan. "THAT'S all you said? After EVERYTHING, you could barely get his NAME out?!" I looked down miserably, but Pony just said, "Don't worry Dar. Wait til they hear what happens next." **  
**

**I let go of Soda and stood there for a minute. Darry didn't like me... he had driven me away that night... he had hit me... Darry hollered at me all the time... he didn't give a hang about me... Suddenly I realized, hor rified, that Darry was crying.**

"WHAT?!" Steve, Two-Bit, and Curly shouted. I smiled at a laughing Soda, who had an arm around a giggling Pony.

**He didn't make a sound, but tears were running down his cheeks. I hadn't seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had been killed. **

"No kidding! Superman NEVER cries!" Two-Bit squeaked.

**(I remembered the funeral. I had sobbed in spite of myself; Soda had broken down and bawled like a baby; but Darry had only stood there, his fists in his pockets and that look on his face, the same helpless, pleading look that he was wearing now.)  
In that second what Soda and Dally and Two-Bit had been trying to tell me came through.**

"Praise the Lord" Soda muttered with a smirk. He hugged both me and Pony.

**Darry did care about me, maybe as much as he cared about Soda, and because he cared he was trying too hard to make something of me. When he yelled "Pony, where have you been all this time?" he meant "Pony, you've scared me to death. Please be careful, because I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you."**

"You ain't joking, kiddo" I smiled sweetly at my baby brother. Pony grinned, "Same here, Dar." **  
Darry looked down and turned away silently. Suddenly I broke out of my daze.  
"Darry!" I screamed, and the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and was squeezing the daylights out of him.  
"Darry," I said, "I'm sorry..."  
He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to keep back the tears. "Oh, Pony, I thought we'd lost you... like we did Mom and Dad..."**

"Awww", Two-Bit wiped a tear from his face. "You guys are the cutest brothers in existence." Steve and Two-Bit glanced at each other, then looked at me and said, "Sorry, Dar." I nodded, "It's okay, guys." **  
**

**That was his silent fear then- of losing another person he loved.**

"Lord knows that's his ONLY fear." Soda dodged a smack from me as I growled. "Yes, Soda, I DO have a fear of losing you, Pony, or someone else I care for. Sue me." I snapped. Pony hugged me around the waist and said, "Love you, too, Darry." I hugged my baby- cuz that's what he was, just as much to me as to Soda- tight and stroked his hair, like at the hospital.

**I remembered how close he and Dad had been, and I wondered how I could ever have thought him hard and unfeeling. I listened to his heart pounding through his T-shirt and knew everything was going to be okay now. I had taken the long way around, but I was finally home. To stay.**

Soda and I looked at each other, then at Pony. "Damn straight you are" we both said with mock sternness. Pony laughed as we tickled him.

Curly, who had remained quiet, now said, "Well, Pony, you were right. You guys are officially the sappiest greasers ever." He stood up, and said, "Well, I got to go. Thanks for the hangout, guys."

"Wait, Curls", Pony said, grabbing his buddy's arm as he walked out the door. "I just wanna say, you know, Tim and Angela may not be as sappy as Darry and Soda…" He glanced at us with a smile, "But they love you. A lot." Curly actually smiled, "Thanks, you dig real good, Curtis. See y'all around." He waved and was gone.

"Sooo" Two-Bit started, "Since Dar ain't a villain no more", I threw a pillow at his head,"I guess this means we are entering World War III here." We all groaned. I might be wrong about being able to handle what came next…

**TA-DA! That's all for chapter 6! Review, review, review! Stay Gold!**


	23. Chapter 7, Part 1

**SORRY FOR THE WAIT! SCHOOL'S A KILLER! I'M BACK NOW, WITH WEEKLY UPDATES, I SWEAR! HERE'S AN UPDATE!**

**Two-Bit's POV**

Ahhh, the Curtis brother moments are truly adorable. I was glad that we had forgiven Darry, and that he and Pony were cool now.

"Who's next up to bat?" Soda asked and Steve snatched the book from his best bud. "I'll do it." He said as he began reading.

**Chapter 7**

NOW THERE WERE three of us sitting in the waiting room waiting to hear how Dally and Johnny were. Then the reporters and the police came. They asked too many questions too fast, and got me mixed up. If you want to know the truth, I wasn't feeling real good in the first place. Kind of sick, really. And I'm scared of policemen anyway. 

"Nothing to be scared of", Soda said as Steve joked, "You have experience with the fuzz, Pony?"

Pony scowled, "You know why. It's cuz they are all against us." Everyone shut up at that truth. The fuzz always sided with the Socs.

**The reporters fired one question right after another at me and got me so confused I didn't know what was coming off. Darry finally told them I wasn't in any shape to be yelled at so much and they slowed down a little. Darry's kinda big.**

"No kiddin, Pony, Superman is scary as hell when he wants to be." I said as I dodged a smack from Darry. **  
**

**Sodapop kept them in stitches. He'd grab one guy's press hat and another's camera and walk around interview ing the nurses and mimicking TV reporters. He tried to lift a policeman's gun and grinned so crazily when he was caught that the policeman had to grin too. **

"Dear Lord, Soda with a gun is like a nightmare come true!" I said horrifically as Soda threw an empty can of beer at my head.

**Soda can make anyone grin. I managed to get hold of some hair grease and comb my hair back so that it looked a little better before they got any pictures. I'd die if I got my picture in the paper with my hair looking so lousy. **

Steve chuckled, "You needed a truck load of grease to fix your crap job. Seriously, if Johnny were here, I'd advise him against a career as a hair stylist." Everyone but Pony laughed.

**Darry and Sodapop were in the pictures too; Jerry Wood told me that if Sodapop and Darry hadn't been so good-looking, they wouldn't have taken so many. That was public appeal, he said.**

I opened my mouth to comment, but I quickly shut it when I saw the murderous glares of Soda and Darry.**  
**

**Soda was really getting a kick out of all this. I guess he would have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been so serious, but he couldn't resist anything that caused that much excitement. I swear, sometimes he reminds me of a colt. A long-legged palomino colt that has to get his nose into everything. **

"Hey!" Soda snapped as we laughed at him.

Pony smirked, "Tell me I'm wrong, Soda." Soda just scowled.

**The reporters stared at him admiringly; I told you he looks like a movie star, and he kind of radiates.**

Steve and I laughed, and I asked, "He radiates, Pon?" Soda grinned, "You're just jealous because I'm beautiful and you're not." Dar and Pon got a kick out of that; Steve and me didn't. **  
**

**Finally, even Sodapop got tired of the reporter- he gets bored with the same old thing after a time- and stretching out on the long bench, he put his head in Darry's lap and went to sleep. I guess both of them were tired- it was late at night and I knew they hadn't had much sleep during the week. Even while I was answering questions I remembered that it had been only a few hours since I was sleeping off a smoke in the corner of the church. Already it was an unreal dream and yet, at the time I couldn't have imagined any other world. Finally, the reporters started to leave, along with the police. One of them turned and asked, "What would you do right now if you could do anything you wanted?"  
I looked at him tiredly. "Take a bath."**

"You need one", I said, and Dar said, "So do you, Alcohol stank."

Steve, Soda, and Pony were rolling at that. I turned red and mumbled, "I don't smell that much like alcohol." **  
**

**They thought that was pretty funny, but I meant it. I felt lousy. The hospital got real quiet after they left. The only noise was the nurse's soft footsteps and Soda's light breathing. Darry looked down at him and grinned half-heartedly. "He didn't get much sleep this week," he said softly. "He hardly slept at all."  
"Hhhmmmm," Soda said drowsily, "you didn't either."**

"Of course we didn't", Soda said softly, "I stayed up all night, wondering if you were okay, if I'd ever see you again. I wished you were just in our bed next to me, safe and sound." Pony wrapped an arm around Soda, "I'm sorry, Soda. Really." **  
**

**The nurses wouldn't tell us anything about Johnny and Dally, so Darry got hold of the doctor. The doctor told us that he would talk only to the family, but Darry finally got it through the guy's head that we were about as much family as Dally and Johnny had.**

"Seriously", Steve said bitterly. We all scowled. Johnny's parents and Dally's old man weren't worth a dime. They let those boys live on the streets. The gang was the only thing they had. **  
**

**Dally would be okay after two or three days in the hos pital, he said. One arm was badly burned and would be scarred for the rest of his life, but he would have full use of it in a couple of weeks. Dally'll be okay, I thought. Dallas is always okay. He could take anything. **

"Except Johnny's death", I muttered, and everyone nodded. Soda placed his arms on Pony's shaking shoulders.

**It was Johnny I was worried about.  
He was in critical condition. His back had been broken when that piece of timber fell on him. He was in severe shock and suffering from third-degree burns. They were doing everything they could to ease the pain, although since his back was broken he couldn't even feel the burns below his waist. He kept calling for Dallas and Ponyboy. **

Pony got up and left the room again. We watched him and sighed. Poor Ponyboy had been through hell and back just as much as Dally and Johnny. The kid couldn't stand hearing this all again.

**If he lived... If? Please, no, I thought. Please not "if." The blood was draining from my face and Darry put an arm across my shoulder and squeezed hard... Even if he lived he'd be crippled for the rest of his life. "You wanted it straight and you got it straight," the doctor said. "Now go home and get some rest."**

Soda growled, "Yea, say that your buddy is basically gonna die, then tell him to go home and rest. Right." Soda looked about to punch a wall, so Dar mumbled, "It's okay, little buddy. I know it hurts."

**I was trembling. A pain was growing in my throat and I wanted to cry, but greasers don't cry in front of strangers. Some of us never cry at all. Like Dally and Two-Bit and Tim Shepard- they forgot how at an early age. **

"Hey, I cry!" I shouted, and then Dar, Soda, and Steve burst into laughter.

I heard giggles coming from Pony's room, and Soda said, "How manly of you, Two-Bit. You write poetry and bake on the side, too?" "Shut up" was my only response.

**Johnny crippled for life? I'm dreaming, I thought in panic, I'm dreaming. I'll wake up at home or in the church and everything'll be like it used to be. But I didn't believe myself. Even if Johnny did live he'd be crippled and never play football or help us out in a rumble again. He'd have to stay in that house he hated, where he wasn't wanted, and things could never be like they used to be. **

We were all silent for a moment. When Pony hit the nail on the head, he hit it hard. I don't think any of us realized how bad things would have gotten for Johnny…

**I didn't trust myself to speak. If I said one word, the hard knot in my throat would swell and I'd be crying in spite of myself.**

Soda sighed. "Let's go talk to Pony" he said, and we nodded. He needed to know we were here for him, and that he could cry for us. **  
**

**OKAY. SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT, YOU GREASERS! STAY GOLD!**


	24. Chapter 7, Part 2

**Look, I'm sorry, but when I made that promise, I didn't know that I was gonna have a summer quite literally from hell. Not to get into too much detail, but let's just say instead of fun in the sun, I've done AP assignments, about 6 funerals, and a week w/o internet. So yeah, I do apologize, and I'd appreciate some slack. I know many authors who take longer to update just because they are lazy; that isn't the case with me.**

**Anyway, now that is settled, let's get back to throwing things at Two-Bit!**

**Steve's POV**

We all walked into Pony's room, where he sat on the bed crying.

Soda sat next to him and rubbed his back, "I know, Pony, I know."

Pony looked at us through his tears and blushed, "Sorry I'm such a crybaby."

Two-Bit smiled, "Hey, you got a good reason to cry, Pon. And while you may not want to in front of others, you can always cry with us."

Pony gave us all a wary smile, "Really?"

I smirked, "Sure, kid. It don't make you a crybaby; everyone has to cry, believe it or not."

Pony nodded, "Let's get on with the story."

I nodded my head, and opened the book in my hands to where we left off.

**I took a deep breath and kept my mouth shut. Soda was awake by then, and although he looked stony-faced, as if he hadn't heard a word the doctor had said, his eyes were bleak and stunned. Serious reality has a hard time coming through to Soda, but when it does, it hits him hard. He looked like I felt when I had seen that black-haired Soc lying doubled up and still in the moonlight.**

"So Soda looked like shit? He always does, though." Two-Bit grinned, until Soda tackled him onto the floor.

Darry snapped, "Not in the bedroom!", and they separated.

**Darry was rubbing the back of my head softly. "We'd better go home. We can't do anything here."  
In our Ford I was suddenly overcome by sleepiness. I leaned back and closed my eyes and we were home before I knew it. Soda was shaking me gently. "Hey, Ponyboy, wake up. You still got to get to the house."  
"Hmmmmm," I said sleepily, and lay down in the seat. I couldn't have gotten up to save my life. I could hear Soda and Darry, but as if from a great distance.**

"If only you could only ever hear Darry from a great distance" Two-Bit muttered, and despite what he had just said, Dar tackled Two-Bit to the floor. We laughed as he held Two-Bit's mouth closed and said to me, "Proceed."

**"Oh, come on, Ponyboy," Soda pleaded, shaking me a little harder, "we're sleepy, too."  
I guess Darry was tired of fooling around, because he picked me up and carried me in.  
"He's getting mighty big to be carried," Soda said. I wanted to tell him to shut up and let me sleep but I only yawned.**

Soda chuckled, "Can't shut me up, kid."

Dar scowled, "Don't make me close your mouth, too, little buddy." Dar winked at a giggling Pony while Soda pouted.**  
**

**"He's sure lost a lot of weight," Darry said.  
I thought sleepily that I should at least pull off my shoes but I didn't. I went to sleep the minute Darry tossed me on the bed. I'd forgotten how soft a bed really was.**

"Huh" I asked Pony, "Did you forget what an ass Two-Bit was, since you were gone so long?"

Darry and Soda chuckled as Pony grinned, "Could never forget that, no matter how hard I tried." Two-Bit growled from under Darry's hand.****

I WAS THE FIRST ONE up the next morning. Soda must have pulled my shoes and shirt off for me; I was still wearing my jeans. He must have been too sleepy to undress himself, though; he lay stretched out beside me fully clothed. I wiggled out from under his arm and pulled the blanket up over him, then went to take a shower. Asleep, he looked a lot younger than going-on-seventeen, but I had noticed that Johnny looked younger when he was asleep, too, so I figured everyone did. Maybe people are younger when they are asleep.

A short pause, and then all four of us started laughing our asses off. Pony blushed, "Back off."

**After my shower, I put on some clean clothes and spent five minutes or so hunting for a hint of beard on my face and mourning over my hair. That bum haircut made my ears stick out.**

"Damn straight" I grinned, and, at the face he was making, Soda laughed, "Don't worry, Pon, it'll grow back. Eventually."

**Darry was still asleep when I went into the kitchen to fix breakfast. The first one up has to fix breakfast and the other two do the dishes. That's the rule around our house, and usually it's Darry who fixes breakfast and me and Soda who are left with the dishes. I hunted through the icebox and found some eggs. We all like our eggs done differently. I like them hard, Darry likes them in a bacon-and-tomato sandwich, and Sodapop eats his with grape jelly. **

Two-Bit opened his mouth to comment, but on Pony's 'hard' eggs or Soda's weird tastes, I never found out, because Dar gave him a look that kept his mouth shut tight.

**All three of us like chocolate cake for breakfast. Mom had never allowed it with ham and eggs, but Darry let Soda and me talk him into it. **

"Wait, so she let you have it when you weren't eating ham and eggs?" I asked.

Soda shook his head, "That's all she ever made for breakfast, as you should know, seeing as how you ate here every morning."

I shrugged, "Didn't really notice."

**We really didn't have to twist his arm; Darry loves chocolate cake as much as we do. Sodapop always makes sure there's some in the icebox every night and if there isn't he cooks one up real quick. I like Darry's cakes better; Sodapop always puts too much sugar in the icing.**

Dar laughed as Soda looked offended, "Really, Pony?"

Pony nodded, "You may not be a weed fiend like me, but you sure as hell are addicted to sugar, Soda."

**I don't see how he stands jelly and eggs and chocolate cake all at once, but he seems to like it. Darry drinks black coffee, and Sodapop and I drink chocolate milk. We could have coffee if we wanted it, but we like chocolate milk. All three of us are crazy about chocolate stuff. Soda says if they ever make a chocolate cigarette I'll have it made.**

"You know, I was thinking" Pony said, "Why don't they have multi-flavored cigarettes?"

Two-Bit smirked, "Why don't you invent them, and get 50% of America's kids smoking chocolate? I'm sure their parents will thank you for it."

**Reviews= updates. I'll update when I get up to 170. That should give me enough time.**


	25. Chapter 7, Part 3

…**. Oh my gomikai. –a slice of Soda's chocolate cake to anyone who gets the reference-**

**You guys… I'm so touched. 20 reviews! You have definitely convinced me this story is worth finishing! I can't and won't make any promises, but I will try to finish this story before September. I'm moving soon, though, and my bro's b-day is in August, but I have new found encouragement towards this story in particular.**

**On with the gang!**

**Ponyboy's POV**

I smirked at my crazy brothers as we sat around my room. Steve started reading again.

**"Anybody home?" a familiar voice called through the front screen, and Two-Bit and Steve came in. We always just stick our heads into each other's houses and holler "Hey" and walk in.**

Two-Bit snickered, "Remember that time we walked in and Soda had just gotten outta the shower, and we left the door open and some girls walkin by saw him drop his…"

Soda placed a hand over Two-Bit's mouth, "Two-Bit's talking privileges have been revoked. Again."

**Our front door is always unlocked in case one of the boys is hacked off at his parents and needs a place to lay over and cool off. We never could tell who we'd find stretched out on the sofa in the morning. It was usually Steve, whose father told him about once a week to get out and never come back. It kind of bugs Steve, even if his old man does give him five or six bucks the next day to make up for it. **

Steve sighed, "Damn old man kicked me out again, by the way."

Soda rubbed his buddy's arm, "The couch is all yours."

I decided to lighten the mood since Two-Bit was outta commission, "Hey, Steve, can I borrow five or six bucks from you tomorrow?" I was surprised when Steve laughed and rubbed my hair.

**Or it might be Dally, who lived anywhere he could. Once we even found Tim Shepard, leader of the Shepard gang and far from his own turf, reading the morning paper in the armchair. He merely looked up, said "Hi," and strolled out without staying for breakfast. **

Darry smiled, "Good old Tim." He and Tim had been getting along real good since Dally died. In fact, the whole Shepard gang was closer than ever to our outfit.

**Two-Bit's mother warned us about burglars, but Darry, flexing his muscles so that they bulged like oversized baseballs, drawled that he wasn't afraid of any burglars, and that we didn't really have anything worth taking. He'd risk a robbery, he said, if it meant keeping one of the boys from blowing up and robbing a gas station or something. So the door was never locked.**

Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit chuckled at a blushing Darry, who muttered, "They ain't that big."

Soda shook his head, "You're right. Oversized footballs would be more accurate." That comment earned Soda a slap in the back of the head.

**"In here!" I yelled, forgetting that Darry and Sodapop were still asleep. "Don't slam the door."  
They slammed the door, of course, and Two-Bit came running into the kitchen. He caught me by the upper arms and swung me around, ignoring the fact that I had two uncooked eggs in my hand.  
"Hey, Ponyboy," he cried gleefully, "long time no see."  
You would have thought it had been five years instead of five days since I'd seen him last, but I didn't mind. I like of Two-Bit; he's a good buddy to have. **

Two-Bit gave me a genuine grin. I smiled back, "It's true. You are a good buddy. Even if you're a drunk, bat-shit crazy, never shut up…"

**He spun me into Steve, who gave me a playful slap on my bruised back and shoved me across the room. One of the eggs went flying. It landed on the clock and I tightened my grip on the other one, so that it crushed and ran all over my hand.  
"Now look what you did," I griped. "There went our breakfast. Can't you two wait till I set the eggs down before you go shovin' me all over the country?" I really was a little mad, because I had just realized how long it had been since I'd eaten anything. The last thing I'd eaten was a hot fudge sundae at the Dairy Queen in Windrixville, and I was hungry.**

Dar glared at Steve and Two-Bit, "You do realize that if you had hurt his back worse I woulda murdered you two in cold blood, right?" They both nodded, looking scared.

Darry smirked at me, "And you are still looking too skinny, little buddy. Imma fix that."

**Two-Bit was walking in a slow circle around me, and I sighed because I knew what was coming.  
"Man, dig baldy here!" He was staring at my head as he circled me. "I wouldn't have believed it. I thought all the wild Indians in Oklahoma had been tamed. What little squaw's got that tuff-lookin' mop of yours, Ponyboy?"**

"Aw, lay off" Soda said. I pointed at Steve to read the next line.

**"Aw, lay off," I said.**

Soda smiled at me, "Great minds think alike."

**I wasn't feeling too good in the first place, kind of like I was coming down with something. **

Dar and Soda both crossed their arms over their chests, glaring at me. I'm sure they were remembering my sickness that night. I looked at the floor sheepishly, "Just keep reading."

**Two-Bit winked at Steve, and Steve said, "Why, he had to get a haircut to get his picture in the paper. They'd never believe a greasy lookin' mug could be a hero. How do you like bein' a hero, big shot?"  
"How do I like what?"  
"Being a hero. You know"- he shoved the morning paper at me impatiently- "like a big shot, even."  
I stared at the newspaper. On the front page of the second section was the headline: JUVENILE DELINQUENTS TURN HEROES.  
"What I like is the 'turn' bit," Two-Bit said, cleaning the egg up off the floor. "Y'all were heroes from the beginning. You just didn't 'turn' all of a sudden."**

Soda nodded, "Yeah, but we greasers gotta rep, and it ain't as heroes." **  
**

**I hardly heard him. I was reading the paper. That whole page was covered with stories about us- the fight, the mur der, the church burning, the Socs being drunk, everything. My picture was there, with Darry and Sodapop. The article told how Johnny and I had risked our lives saving those little kids, and there was a comment from one of the parents, who said that they would all have burned to death if it hadn't been for us. It told the whole story of our fight with the Socs- only they didn't say "Socs," because most grownups don't know about the battles that go on between us. They had interviewed Cherry Valance, and she said Bob had been drunk and that the boys had been looking for a fight when they took her home. Bob had told her he'd fix us for picking up his girl. His buddy Randy Adderson, who had helped jump us, also said it was their fault and that we'd only fought back in self-defense. But they were charging Johnny with manslaughter. Then I discovered that I was supposed to appear at juvenile court for running away, and Johnny was too, if he recovered. (Not if, I thought again. Why do they keep saying if?)**

I just shook my head. I sure know what they meant by if now.

**For once, there weren't any charges against Dally, and I knew he'd be mad because the paper made him out a hero for saving Johnny and didn't say much about his police record, which he was kind of proud of. He'd kill those reporters if he got hold of them. **

Two-Bit muttered something, but Soda shook his head, "No, no, Two-Bit. You're not allowed to talk, remember?"

I sighed, "Please let him speak, Soda?" Soda looked at me, and nodded.

Two-Bit smiled, "Thanks, Pon. And that hood woulda ended up in jail again if he had lived. How dare those reporters not talk about all the crimes he's committed? It's an outrage!" Two-Bit shook his fist in mock fury, and I ended up on the floor laughing.

The entire gang gave me warm smiles. Dar said, "Ok, Two-Bit, you earned back your ability to talk."

**There was another column about just Darry and Soda and me: how Darry worked on two jobs at once and made good at both of them, and about his outstanding record at school; it mentioned Sodapop dropping out of school so we could stay together, and that I made the honor roll at school all the time and might be a future track star. (Oh, yeah, I forgot- I'm on the A-squad track team, the youngest one. I'm a good runner.) Then it said we shouldn't be separated after we had worked so hard to stay together.  
The meaning of that last line finally hit me. "You mean..."- I swallowed hard- "that they're thinking about putting me and Soda in a boys' home or something?"**

Darry growled, "Over my dead body. Like hell the state is ever taking my brothers from me and putting them in some fucking boys' home."

Soda and me both hugged Dar. I said, "We know, Darry, that's why we ain't."

**Steve was carefully combing back his hair in compli cated swirls. "Somethin' like that"  
I sat down in a daze. We couldn't get hauled off now. Not after me and Darry had finally got through to each other, and now that the big rumble was coming up and we would settle this Soc-greaser thing once and for all. Not now, when Johnny needed us and Dally was still in the hospital and wouldn't be out for the rumble.  
"No," I said out loud, and Two-Bit, who was scraping the egg off the clock, turned to stare at me.  
"No what?"  
"No, they ain't goin' to put us in a boys' home."  
"Don't worry about it," Steve said, cocksure that he and Sodapop could handle anything that came up. **

Soda screamed, "Hell, yeah, we can!" and fist pumped Steve as they both screeched like Indians.

**"They don't do things like that to heroes. Where're Soda and Superman?"  
That was as far as he got, because Darry, shaved and dressed, came in behind Steve and lifted him up off the floor, then dropped him. We all call Darry "Superman" or "Muscles" at one time or another; but one time Steve made the mistake of referring to him as "all brawn and no brain," and Darry almost shattered Steve's jaw. Steve didn't call him that again, but Darry never forgave him; Darry has never really gotten over not going to college.**

Dar nodded his head, "That's why I'm so hell bent on putting you through college, Pony. I want you to have what I didn't."

I smiled, "Thanks, Dar. I'll try not to disappoint you." Darry grinned, "You never could, little buddy."

**That was the only time I've ever seen Soda mad at Steve, although Soda attaches no importance to education. School bored him. No action.**

Soda shook his head, "I'll never ever understand what you two and Two-Bit see in school."

Then Soda glared at Steve, "But you ever make fun of my big bro or my baby, I'll skin you."**  
**

**Soda came running in. "Where's that blue shirt I washed yesterday?" He took a swig of chocolate milk out of the container.  
"Hate to tell you, buddy," Steve said, still flat on the floor, "but you have to wear clothes to work. There's a law or something."  
"Oh, yeah," Soda said. "Where're those wheat jeans, too?"  
"I ironed. They're in my closet," Darry said. "Hurry up, you're gonna be late."  
Soda ran back, muttering, "I'm hurryin', I'm hurryin'."  
Steve followed him and in a second there was the gen eral racket of a pillow fight. **

"And Soda was only in a towel, right? Hmmm…" Two-Bit smiled suggestively- until Steve and Soda tackled him.

"Not in my room" I complained, and Dar just laughed at us all.

**I absentmindedly watched Darry as he searched the icebox for chocolate cake.  
"Darry," I said suddenly, "did you know about the juvenile court?"  
Without turning to look at me he said evenly, "Yeah, the cops told me last night."**

Dar shook his head, "I don't know how I got through listening to that without getting arrested for assaulting a cop." We all chuckled at Darry's protectiveness.

**I knew then that he realized we might get separated. I didn't want to worry him anymore, but I said, "I had one of those dreams last night. The one I can't ever remember."  
Darry spun around to face me, genuine fear on his face. "What?"**

Two-Bit's eyes bulged, "Superman afraid? Say it ain't so!"

Dar rolled his eyes, "Again, there's one thing I'm afraid of- my brothers hurt, scared, or dead."

**REVIEW! Stay gold, my lovely little greaser girls and filthy greaser boys! (Just kidding, love you all!)**


	26. Chapter 7, Part 4

**UPDATE! Could we try for 200 reviews please? It would highlight my miserable excuse for a summer!**

**Soda's POV**

I cringed at the memory of Pony's nightmares. Stevie said, "So…" and read.

**I HAD A NIGHTMARE the night of Mom and Dad's funeral. I'd had nightmares and wild dreams every once in a while when I was little, but nothing like this one. I woke up screaming bloody murder. And I never could remember what it was that had scared me. It scared Sodapop and Darry almost as bad as it scared me; for night after night, for weeks on end, I would dream this dream and wake up in a cold sweat or screaming. And I never could remember exactly what happened in it. Soda began sleeping with me, and it stopped recurring so often, but it happened often enough for Darry to take me to a doctor.**

Two-Bit opened his mouth. At this point, Darry, Steve, Pony, and I all just said, "Keep your trap shut, Two-Bit."

Two-Bit grinned, "Just saying that Pony don't need a doc, he needs a mental hospital." Dar and I both slapped him in the head.

**The doctor said I had too much imagination. He had a simple cure, too: Study harder, read more, draw more, and play football more. After a hard game of football and four or five hours of reading, I was too exhausted, mentally and physically, to dream anything. But Darry never got over it, and every once in a while he would ask me if I ever dreamed any more.**

"We all dream, Darrel, we all dream." Two-Bit said seriously while we all rolled our eyes.

**"Was it very bad?" Two-Bit questioned. He knew the whole story, and having never dreamed about anything but blondes, he was interested.**

Steve smirked, "Pony, you entered his dreams or something? Or are you just that observant?" Two-Bit scowled at us as we laughed.

**"No," I lied. I had awakened in a cold sweat and shivering, but Soda was dead to the world. I had just wiggled closer to him and stayed awake for a couple of hours, trembling under his arm. That dream always scared the heck out of me.**

I swerved and glared at my brother, "Why the hell didn't you kick me awake?! You shoulda shook me and said, 'Soda, I had a nightmare', and I woulda been up in a flash!"

Dar glared, too, "Or you coulda come to me, Pon! For God's sakes, that's what we're here for! If you need us, get us, you dig?"

Pony nodded sheepishly, "Sorry, but I knew you needed sleep, and I felt bad about waking you up…" I cut him off, "We don't care. All we care about is you being okay. If you're scared, we wanna comfort you, okay?"

As Dar and I hugged our baby brother, Two-Bit placed a hand over his heart, "Idon't know how many more touching Curtis moments I can take! My poor fragile heart!" Three pillows to the face shut him up real good.

**Darry started to say something, but before he could begin, Sodapop and Steve came in.  
"You know what?" Sodapop said to no one in particular. "When we stomp the Socies good, me and Stevie here are gonna throw a big party and everybody can get stoned. Then we'll go chase the Socs clear to Mexico."  
"Where you gonna get the dough, little man?" Darry had found the cake and was handing out pieces.  
"I'll think of somethin'," Sodapop assured him between bites.**

Pony turned to Darry, "Be honest. Would you really have let us all get stoned?"

Dar grinned, "Steve, yes. Two-Bit is stoned incarnate, a 24/7 stoner. You and Soda… never."

**"You going to take Sandy to the party?" I asked, just to be saying something. Instant silence. I looked around. "What's the deal?" Sodapop was staring at his feet, but his ears were reddening. "No. She went to live with her grandmother in Florida."**

Pony looked at me as I looked down at the floor, "You shoulda told me, I never woulda brought it up, Soda. I didn't mean to hurt you."

I shook my head, "Not your fault, so don't apologize. And I was a little busy rejoicing that my baby brother was safe and home with me." I held Pony tight. _He_ was what mattered, not a two-timing girl…

**"How come?"  
"Look," Steve said, surprisingly angry, "does he have to draw you a picture? It was either that or get married, and her parents almost hit the roof at the idea of her marryin' a sixteen-year-old kid."**

"You coulda been nicer about explaining, Stevie, wasn't his fault he didn't know" I said, annoyed.

Steve sighed, "Sorry, Sodapop. And sorry, Ponyboy. I was just so pissed at that little bitch, but it wasn't fair to take it out on you."

Pony nodded and responded calmly, "No sweat, I wanna take a switchblade to that bitch's head, too."

A beat of startled silence, than Dar, Two-Bit, Steve, and I all ended up on the floor laughing, me holding my little brother to my chest.

We all said, "Oh, Pony…" But Pony just shrugged, confused. He was just sharing his thoughts, after all.**  
**

**"Seventeen," Soda said softly. "I'll be seventeen in a couple of weeks."  
"Oh," I said, embarrassed. Soda was no innocent; I had been in on bull sessions and his bragging was as loud as anyone's. But never about Sandy. Not ever about Sandy. I remembered how her blue eyes had glowed when she looked at him, and I was sorry for her.**

"Sorry for HER?" Steve growled, but Pony said, "Yeah, sorry for the ass-whooping she'll get if she ever shows her face in Tulsa again." Again, we all laughed at Pony. I may not have Sandy anymore, but I had the best brothers in the world, and that was something.

**There was a heavy silence. Then Darry said, "We'd better get on to work, Pepsi-Cola." Darry rarely called Soda by Dad's pet nickname for him, but he did so then because he knew how miserable Sodapop was about Sandy.  
"I hate to leave you here by yourself, Ponyboy," Darry said slowly. "Maybe I ought to take the day off."  
"I've stayed by my lonesome before. You can't afford a day off."  
"Yeah, but you just got back and I really ought to stay..."**

"Hey, Soda, why ain't you jumping to miss work and stay with Pony?" Two-Bit asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Was a tad preoccupied, and Dar would never let me. I've tried before, I know. Whenever Pony is sick, we always fight about who gets to stay with him."

Pony grinned, "You two fighting over little old me? I'm touched…" Dar and me both threw a pillow at Pony, who laughed.

**"I'll baby-sit him," Two-Bit said, ducking as I took a swing at him. "I haven't got anything better to do."  
"Why don't you get a job?" Steve said. "Ever consider working for a living?"  
"Work?" Two-Bit was aghast. "And ruin my rep? I wouldn't be baby-sittin'the kid here if I knew of some good day-nursery open on Saturdays."**

"What rep? As a drunk?" Pony cocked an eyebrow as Steve and I laughed. Two-Bit growled, "Watch yourself, Curtis."

Darry scowled, "Hey, I blame this attitude of his on you, Two-Bit. You reap what you sow, in other words, what you teach him, he uses on ya." Two-Bit turned red because he knew it was true.

**I pulled his chair over backward and jumped on him, but he had me down in a second. I was kind of short on wind. I've got to cut out smoking or I won't make track next year.  
"Holler uncle."  
"Nope," I said, struggling, but I didn't have my usual strength.  
Darry was pulling on his jacket. "You two do up the dishes. You can go to the movies if you want to before you go see Dally and Johnny." He paused for a second, watch ing Two-Bit squash the heck out of me. **

Pony glared at Dar, "You just watched him suffocate your youngest brother, after everything that happened, REALLY?" Darry grinned and shrugged, "I DID stop him…"

**"Two-Bit, lay off. He ain't lookin' so good. Ponyboy, you take a couple of aspirins and go easy. You smoke more than a pack today and I'll skin you. Understood?"**

"See? And I even gave you orders that you probably didn't obey…" Dar said, but Pony pointed to the book.

**"Yeah," I said, getting to my feet. "You carry more than one bundle of roofing at a time today and me and Soda'll skin you. Understood?"**

"Well, Superman? Who else prob didn't obey orders?" Pony smirked as everyone who wasn't Darry laughed.

**He grinned one of his rare grins. "Yeah. See y'all this afternoon."  
"Bye," I said. I heard our Ford's vvrrrooooom and thought: Soda's driving. And they left.**

"How does a vvrrrooooom indicate I'm driving?" I asked outta curiosity. Pony smiled, "Dar doesn't drive like a maniac. He drives like a normal, sensible turtle." Two-Bit and Steve got a kick outta mine and Darry's faces.

**"...anyway, I was walking around downtown and started to take this short cut through an alley"- Two-Bit was telling me about one of his many exploits while we did the dishes. I mean, while I did the dishes. He was sitting on the cabinet, sharpening that black handled switchblade he was so proud of-"... and I ran into three guys. I says 'Howdy' and they just look at each other. Then one says 'We would jump you but since you're as slick as us we figger you don't have nothin' worth takin'.' I says 'Buddy, that's the truth' and went right on. Moral: What's the safest thing to be when one is met by a gang of social outcasts in an alley?"  
"A judo expert?" I suggested.**

"Superman?" Darry guessed, ironically enough.

"The Karate Kid?" I threw in.

"Invincible?" added Steve.

**"No, another social outcast!" Two-Bit yelped, and nearly fell off the cabinet from laughing so hard.**

"Oh" everyone but Two-Bit and Pony said.

**I had to grin, too. He saw things straight and made them into some thing funny.**

"I thought our buddy here saw things narrow and had no sense of humor" Steve ducked as Two-Bit threw a can of Pepsi at him.

**"We're gonna clean up the house," I said. "The reporters or police or somebody might come by, and any way, it's time for those guys from the state to come by and check up on us."  
"This house ain't messy. You oughtta see my house."  
"I have. And if you had the sense of a billy goat you'd try to help around your place instead of bumming around."  
"Shoot, kid, if I ever did that my mom would die of shock."**

"Sadly, that's probably true" I grimaced.

**I liked Two-Bit's mother. She had the same good humor and easygoing ways that he did. She wasn't lazy like him, but she let him get away with murder. I don't know, though- it's just about impossible to get mad at him.**

"Even sadder, so is that" Steve shook his head.

**When we had finished, I pulled on Dally's brown leather jacket- the back was burned black- and we started for Tenth Street.**

"I still have that" Pony whispered wistfully.

**"I would drive us," Two-Bit said as we walked up the street trying to thumb a ride, "but the brakes are out on my car. Almost killed me and Kathy the other night" He flipped the collar of his black leather jacket up to serve as a windbreak while he lit a cigarette. "You oughtta see Kathy's brother. Now there's a hood. He's so greasy he glides when he walks. He goes to the barber for an oil change, not a haircut"  
I would have laughed, but I had a terrific headache. **

"Don't lie. You didn't laugh cuz it ain't funny." I grinned.

**We stopped at the Tasty Freeze to buy Cokes and rest up, and the blue Mustang that had been trailing us for eight blocks pulled in. I almost decided to run, and Two-Bit must have guessed this, for he shook his head ever so slightly and tossed me a cigarette. As I lit up, the Socs who had jumped Johnny and me at the park hopped out of the Mustang.**

"WHAT?!" screamed Steve. Dar, and me. Two-Bit and Pony grimaced.

**I recognized Randy Adderson, Marcia's boyfriend, and the tall guy that had almost drowned me. **

Dar and I sneered. If only we had been there, that Soc would be DEAD. Pony looked at us anxiously, knowing we hated this.

**I hated them. It was their fault Bob was dead; their fault Johnny was dying; their fault Soda and I might get put in a boys' home. I hated them as bitterly and as contemptuously as Dally Winston hated.**

"What I coincidence, I hate them , too" I snarled, "For all that, and for almost drowning my Pony!"

Everyone scooted away from me; I don't get this mad often, but when I am, I'm dangerous.

**Two-Bit put an elbow on my shoulder and leaned against me, dragging on his cigarette. "You know the rules. No jazz before the rumble," he said to the Socs.  
"We know," Randy said. He looked at me. "Come here. I want to talk to you."**

"Ponyboy Michael Curtis, you stay the fuck away from him!" I snarled, "Don't you dare let him hurt you again!" Pony just looked at his feet, which caused my heart to sink.

"Why are we just now hearing about all this?" Dar demanded, and Two-Bit shook his head, "Cuz everything turned out fine. You know I'd never let anything happen to Pony."

_Neither would I_, I thought. _If we discovered that they had harmed one hair on my baby's head, I'd go hunt that son of a bitch down, and MURDER him. _

**On that violent note… REVIEW! STSY GOLD, GREASERS!**


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